hellcat
Americannoun
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hellcats
plural
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a bad-tempered, spiteful, woman; shrew.
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a woman with magic powers derived from evil sources; witch.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hellcat
First recorded in 1595–1605; hell + cat ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In one of the evening’s best notions, Iskandar and Pancholy play down the cartoonish concept of Katherina as a tantrum-throwing hellcat.
From Washington Post ● May 25, 2016
CSI stalwart Sarah Butler does what she can with the much-wronged hellcat, but her character's condign rage rouses ne'er a flicker of empathy.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 24, 2011
You might howl at the sheer audacity of mixing mental illness with the body-fatiguing, mind-numbing rigors of ballet, but its lurid imagery and a hellcat competition between two rival dancers is pretty irresistible.
From Reuters ● Sep. 1, 2010
Starring in Rossini's La Cenerentola with La Scala in Washington, D.C., last September, she displayed enough bravura vocal fireworks to suggest that Flicka also has a bit of the hellcat in her.
From Time Magazine Archive
Has this presumptuous hellcat who bore thee taught thee to stand before my face, to tell me what thou wilt and wilt not do?
From The Sea-Hawk by Rafael Sabatini
On the Dutton Ranch strong men are just strong men, but strong women are grizzled war-torn hellcats which, especially in the fifth season, often reads as just "crazy" rather than strong.
From Salon ● Jan. 1, 2023
Cincinnati did not flop, Davis said, because on Dec. 20, when Cronin stepped down, he declared to his players that they would still be ambitious hellcats of defense and rebounding.
From New York Times ● Mar. 20, 2015
Every Disney cartoon drama is laced with intoxicating comedy, with harlequins and hellcats.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
