common scold

American  

noun

1. (in early common law) a habitually rude and brawling woman whose conduct was subject to punishment as a public nuisance.

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Etymology

Origin of common scold

First recorded in 1760–70

Example Sentences

But, as always, Khrushchev on tour turned out to be part frolicking peasant, part common scold.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the title role, Diana Sands is earth-bound but never God-intoxicated, more of a common scold than an uncommon saint.

From Time Magazine Archive

With a loud roar of rage, the felicity of phrasing and invaluable candor of a common scold, he immediately started to set things to rights.

From Time Magazine Archive

Catherine Cairns was arrested as a common scold, clapped in jail to mend her talk.

From Time Magazine Archive

Mrs. Royall's tongue at last became so unendurable that she was formally indicted by the Grand Jury as a common scold, and was tried in the Circuit Court before Judge Cranch.

From Perley's Reminiscences, v. 1-2 of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis by Poore, Benjamin Perley