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Beldame   Listen
noun
Beldame, Beldam  n.  
1.
Grandmother; corresponding to belsire. "To show the beldam daughters of her daughter."
2.
An old woman in general; especially, an ugly old woman; a hag.
Synonyms: hag, beldam, witch, crone. "Around the beldam all erect they hang."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Beldame" Quotes from Famous Books



... in the prime of her womanhood, putting one in mind of the statue in Lucian, with the surface of Parian marble, and the interior filled with filth—the loathsome and utterly lost leper in rags—the wrinkled, bejewelled and paint-begrimed beldame, making a last effort at youth—the mere child of immature form, yet, from long association, an adept in the dreadful coquetries of her trade, and burning with a rabid ambition to be ranked the equal of her elders in vice; drunkards innumerable and indescribable—some in shreds ...
— The Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume 5 (of 5) of the Raven Edition • Edgar Allan Poe

... confidence demanded, there was no end to the loquacity and the ill-natured remarks of the old beldame: she held her list in her hand, and ran over the families and private history of each. It was two hours before she had finished, which she did with Marie, of whose history she gave me a most minute detail; and if ...
— The Pacha of Many Tales • Frederick Marryat

... clank their chains, and wave The torch of hell around the murderer's bed. At every solemn pause the crowd recoil, Gazing each other speechless, and congeal'd With shivering sighs: till eager for the event, Around the beldame all erect they hang, Each trembling heart with grateful terrors ...
— Poetical Works of Akenside - [Edited by George Gilfillan] • Mark Akenside

... convulsed his frame, his face was deadly pale, and his hands almost transparent, while his great black eyes glittered with the wild delirium of fever. Sometimes he would give a deep groan, and then the old beldame would turn angrily and threaten to strike ...
— Caught In The Net • Emile Gaboriau

... there behind her, from the leafage green, The sweetest eyes his eyes had ever seen Were gazing at him with wide wonderment, Nor bold nor fearful; innocence unshent Shone from their blue depths, and old dreams awoke In Launcelot's breast, while thus the beldame spoke: "A boon, a boon, Sir Launcelot of the Lake! I Pray you of your courtesy to take This damsel to the King. Her enemies Have spoiled her of her birthright, and she flees An innocent outcast from her wasted lands, To lay her life and fortune in his hands." She ...
— Gawayne And The Green Knight - A Fairy Tale • Charlton Miner Lewis

... the servants. "Your ladyship! Oh, your ladyship!"—as they came up one by one, or two by two, obeying orders of the Earl, to be incontinently boxed on the ears by a member of a profligate aristocracy. Probably any one of them was strong enough to throw the beldame out at a window. But such was not the manner of the time. One would think they would retreat upon the Earl and ask to be dismissed from his service. But this also was not the manner of the time. No; they ...
— The O'Ruddy - A Romance • Stephen Crane

... The beldame changed herself to a crane, And flew to the clouds on high; But Vitting donned a feather robe, And pursued ...
— The Expedition to Birting's Land - and other ballads - - - Translator: George Borrow • Thomas J. Wise

... As the beldame repeated and emphasized these words, she raised her hand with a prophetic gesture and advanced ...
— For Woman's Love • Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth

... just," continued Tom; "that is an old beldame of the neighbourhood, in search of the poor unhappy girl who has just taken the Irishman in tow, an encourager of all that is vicious ...
— Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II. • Pierce Egan

... of her servitude or anxious to market it. Sometimes she shared her outlook with an old woman—a horrible, greasy go-between, with straggling grey hair and a gin-inflamed face. She chatted with this beldame happily, she cupped her vile old dewlap, or stroked her dishonourable head; sometimes a man in shirt sleeves was with her, treated her familiarly, with rude embraces, with kisses, nudges and leers. She accepted all with good-humour ...
— Lore of Proserpine • Maurice Hewlett

... guard who still surrounded the prisoners; and they, with a coarse jest or two at the old woman's expense, at once proceeded to bind Dick's and Phil's hands behind them, after which they placed the two free ends of the ropes in the beldame's hands and left the way free for her to lead her ...
— Two Gallant Sons of Devon - A Tale of the Days of Queen Bess • Harry Collingwood

... the first; 'gane is he, and sma' loss wi' him! An' yon old beldame over at St. Abbs, she kens weel how to keep a lass wi' a tocher—so what does the Master but sends a letter ower to our Prior, bidding him send two trusty brethren, as though from the King, to conduct her ...
— The Caged Lion • Charlotte M. Yonge

... it not appear to you that this same beldame incontinence shuts out wisdom, which is the best of all things, (6) from mankind, and plunges them into the opposite? Does it not appear to you that she hinders men from attending to things which will be of use and benefit, and from learning to understand them; ...
— The Memorabilia - Recollections of Socrates • Xenophon

... princess's yellow curls a beldame's cap, robed her in a plain gown of black, and made ...
— St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, July 1878, No. 9 • Various

... you," answered Francis briefly. Following the direction indicated by the beldame she led her horse round the house where she found the stables in somewhat better condition than she had expected. After looking after the welfare of the animal she muttered a short prayer, and entered the dwelling with ...
— In Doublet and Hose - A Story for Girls • Lucy Foster Madison

... Ah, she's a beldame now, Time-trenched on cheek and brow, Whom I once heard as a maid From Keinton Mandeville Of matchless scope and skill Sing, with smile and swell and trill, "Should ...
— Late Lyrics and Earlier • Thomas Hardy

... and a happy bewitchment protected him for three years against the possibility of harm. He had been lying at Hatfield, at the George Inn, and set out in the early morning for London. As he neared the town-gate, an old beldame begged an alms of him, and though Hind, not liking her ill-favoured visage, would have spurred forward, the beldame's glittering eye held his horse motionless. 'Good woman,' cried Hind, flinging her a crown, 'I am in haste; pray let me pass.' 'Sir,' ...
— A Book of Scoundrels • Charles Whibley

... furnished me with the eyes. Farewell, dear wise man. I think your poverty honorable above the common brightness of that thorn-crown of the great. It earns you the love of men and the praise of a thousand years. Yet I hope the angelical Beldame, all-helping, all-hated, has given you her last lessons, and, finding you so striding a proficient, will dismiss you to a hundred editions and the ...
— The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, - 1834-1872, Vol. I • Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson

... not out of my mouth before there was a thumping upon the floor outside, and the voice of the beldame spoke sharply: ...
— The Long Day - The Story of a New York Working Girl As Told by Herself • Dorothy Richardson

... seek, infernal Power! Be thy word sent to Malkin Tower, That the beldame old may know Where I will, thou'dst have her go— What I will, thou'dst have ...
— The Lancashire Witches - A Romance of Pendle Forest • William Harrison Ainsworth

... weaker, perhaps, but certainly no stronger nor sharper. So she fed him to a threshing machine of her acquaintance, which managed to masticate some of the more modern portions, but was hopelessly wrecked upon the neck. From that time the poor beldame had lived under the ban of a great curse. Hens took after her as naturally as after the soaring beetle; geese pursued her as if she were a fleeting tadpole; ducks, turkeys, and guinea fowl camped upon her trail ...
— Cobwebs From an Empty Skull • Ambrose Bierce (AKA: Dod Grile)

... but your understanding charms me, and I am lost if you do not dissemble a little love for me. I am not without hopes; because I am not like the tawdry gay things that are fit only to make bone-lace. I am neither childish-young, nor beldame-old, but, the world says, a ...
— Isaac Bickerstaff • Richard Steele

... remember it well—a goodly wench and worthy all commendation. Her mother was more free and less particular; a troublesome and ugly-tempered beldame, but furnished with a wit ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... "God-a-mercy!" swore the beldame, harshly. "Things have come to a pass in sooth when our homes may be treated like common jails. Take away this robber and your fellows from my house on the instant, or I will curse you all in ...
— Robin Hood • Paul Creswick

... beldame was, she knew, she understood that after all, now as for all time, in every venture and in every task, the woman's portion was ...
— Darkness and Dawn • George Allan England

... rose and went over to the table of the beldame and sat down beside her. She looked up at him glaringly. He did not smile, nor, apparently, make any apology or excuse, but began talking to her, looking at the ring, and saying I know not what. And ...
— A Man and a Woman • Stanley Waterloo

... is profane—give me your hand!" said the beldame, reaching out her own to take that ...
— Capitola the Madcap • Emma D. E. N. Southworth

... ill-omened bird whose name she bore did this old beldame look in her close-clinging black gown, and flapping black cape and hood, and with her sharp eyes, hooked nose ...
— Hidden Hand • Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth

... text is quite opposed to DOZINESS! But what of this, if the preacher be addicted to drawling, the weather unobligingly sultry, and you yourself have gradually been dwindling from an uncongenial state of wakefulness into a sleepy calm? 'Tis too much for beldame ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827 • Various

... rather he, was dressed in dried banana leaves: long tufts of grass hung from her head over her face and shoulders; and in her mouth she carried a lighted bundle of dry coco-nut fibre, which emitted clouds of smoke. With an unsteady rickety gait the beldame hobbled after her rapidly retreating son, who turned round from time to time, skipping and posturing derisively as if to taunt her, and then hurrying away again westward. Thus the two quaint figures retreated ...
— The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I (of 3) • Sir James George Frazer

... on the Antiquary's bail, and immediately accompanied his good friend to the cottage of old Elspeth Mucklebackit, where, by the Earl's request, Oldbuck was to take down a statement from her lips, such as might be produced in a court of law. But no single syllable would the old beldame now ...
— Red Cap Tales - Stolen from the Treasure Chest of the Wizard of the North • Samuel Rutherford Crockett

... chin is bare, And I have wonder'd much when men have told. How youth was free from sorrow and from care, That thou shouldst dwell with me, and leave the old. Sure dost not like me!—Shrivel'd hag of hate, My phiz, and thanks to thee, is sadly long; I am not either, beldame, over strong; Nor do I wish at all to be thy mate, For thou, sweet Fury, art my utter hate. Nay, shake not thus thy miserable pate; I am yet young, and do not like thy face; And, lest thou shouldst resume the wild-goose chase, I'll ...
— The Poetical Works of Henry Kirke White - With a Memoir by Sir Harris Nicolas • Henry Kirke White

... hard at Bishop Pendle, until he felt almost mesmerised by the intensity of her gaze. She became a perfect nightmare to the man, much the same as the little old woman of the coffer was to Abudah, the merchant in the fantastic eastern tale; but, unlike that pertinacious beldam, she apparently had no message to deliver. She only stared and stared with her glittering, evil eyes, until the bishop—his nerves not being under control with this constant persecution—almost fancied that the powers ...
— The Bishop's Secret • Fergus Hume

... command of the second division, and holding on to his stirrup-leather, George found a new country opening out before him. On one occasion, as they were passing through a village of low huts, "that seemed to be inhabited solely by women and children," he went up to an old beldam who sat spinning at the door of one of the hovels and asked for some water. She "appeared to consider for a moment, then tottering into her hut, presently reappeared with a small pipkin of milk, which she offered . . . with a trembling hand." When the lad ...
— The Life of George Borrow • Herbert Jenkins

... days of wickedness and wit, When Villiers criticised what Dryden writ, The tragic queen, to please a tasteless crowd, Had learn'd to bellow, rant, and roar so loud, That frighten'd Nature, her best friend before, The blustering beldam's company foreswore; Her comic sister, who had wit 'tis true, With all her merits, had her failings too: And would sometimes in mirthful moments use A style too flippant for a well-bred muse; Then female modesty abash'd began To seek the friendly refuge of the fan, ...
— Scarborough and the Critic • Sheridan

... ogre, ghoul, gorilla, vulture; gyrfalcon|!, gerfalcon|!. wild beast, tiger, hyena, butcher, hangman; blood-hound, hell-hound, sleuth-hound; catamount [U. S.], cougar, jaguar, puma. hag, hellhag[obs3], beldam, Jezebel. monster; fiend &c. (demon) 980; devil incarnate, demon in human shape; Frankenstein's monster. harpy, siren; Furies, Eumenides. Hun, Attila[obs3], scourge of the human race. Phr. faenum habet ...
— Roget's Thesaurus

... There's some one ill—of heartburn. You note it, I presume, Morson? Go quick, and fetch a squill from some old beldam's tomb. ...
— Theocritus • Theocritus

... from the benefits of culture the majority of men, so that a gifted minority may blossom. Through this door the modern democrat arrives to the place where he is willing to allot two able-bodied men and two fine horses to the task of helping one wizened beldam to ...
— Darkwater - Voices From Within The Veil • W. E. B. Du Bois

... kind of hitch and jerk, however, rather than a step—then tottered and almost lost its balance. What could the witch expect? It was nothing, after all, but a scarecrow stuck upon two sticks. But the strong-willed old Beldam scowled and beckoned and flung the energy of her purpose so forcibly at this poor combination of rotten wood and musty straw and ragged garments that it was compelled to show itself a man, in spite of the reality of things; so it stepped into the bar of sunshine. There it stood, poor devil of a ...
— Short Stories of Various Types • Various

... community! There goes John Massey, the first town- born child, now a youth of twenty, whose eye wanders with peculiar interest towards that buxom damsel who comes up the steps at the same instant. There hobbles Goody Foster, a sour and bitter old beldam, looking as if she went to curse, and not to pray, and whom many of her neighbors suspect of taking an occasional airing on a broomstick. There, too, slinking shamefacedly in, you observe that same poor do-nothing and good-for-nothing whom we ...
— Main Street - (From: "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales") • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... very well that he was not at all glad; that the same thought which chilled my blood had come to him. This little beldam, with her beady eyes and her laughter, was the wicked witch of our childhood days; she had shut us up in ...
— Helmet of Navarre • Bertha Runkle



Words linked to "Beldame" :   crone, hag



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