hellcat
Americannoun
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a bad-tempered, spiteful, woman; shrew.
-
a woman with magic powers derived from evil sources; witch.
noun
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.
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
The star defendant: a 29-year-old, olive-skinned hellcat named Agata Galiffi who had wanted to be a movie star.
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 Sabatini, Rafael
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.
