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Tarpeia

[tahr-pee-uh]
noun Classical Mythology.
  1. a vestal virgin who betrayed Rome to the Sabines and was crushed under their shields when she claimed a reward.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for tarpeia

Historical Examples

  • Tarpeia alone is her rival in infamy, and the end of both was the same.

    Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65, No. 399, January 1849

    Various

  • And at last Tarpeia made a bargain, to betray her city to them.

  • Tarpeia buried under the shields and bracelets wasn't in it with us!

    The Brightener

    C. N. Williamson

  • Shall we be buried under them like Tarpeia under the Sabine shields?

    On Books and the Housing of Them

    William Ewart Gladstone

  • They had fulfilled their promise, but in a way the treacherous Tarpeia did not expect.

    The King's Cup-Bearer

    Amy Catherine Walton

British Dictionary definitions for tarpeia

Tarpeia

noun
  1. (in Roman legend) a vestal virgin, who betrayed Rome to the Sabines and was killed by them when she requested a reward
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012