Harpies

1. Vicious winged beings in classical mythology, often depicted as birds with women's faces. In the story of Jason, they steal or spoil an old blind man's food, leaving a terrible odor behind them.

Example Sentences

We encounter it first in Homer’s “Iliad” and then again in Virgil’s “Aeneid,” where it appears at the doors of Hades alongside Gorgons, centaurs and Harpies.

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She joins Facebook groups like “Hardcore Hags, Harridans and Harpies” — “a resistance group for women over 50.”

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The images of Chiron the centaur and his pupil Odysseus, or the purposeful winged Harpies, are burned into me.

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The Greek hero sails through Harpies and clashing rocks to the Golden Fleece, guarded by the Hydra.

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Besides female ascetics and saints, Young regularly points out examples of what she calls the “monstrous-feminine,” figures such as Medusa, the Sphinx, the Harpies, Medea and the Furies.

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