Link Centre Dictionary

beldame

bel·dame

UK/ˈbɛldəm/ uncommon archaic obsolete

noun

1.

an ugly evil-looking old woman

Synonyms
2.

a woman of advanced age

Synonyms

Origin

Inherited from late (1400-1450) Middle English beldame, beldam, from Middle English bel (“attractive, fine, good”) (from Old French bel (“beautiful”), from Latin bellus) + dame, dam (“a mother, lady”), itself ultimately from Latin domina (“a mistress, lady”).

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.