▪ I. termagant, n. (a.)
(ˈtɜːməgənt)
Forms: α. 3 teruagant, 3–5 -aunt. β. 4–7 termagaunt, 6 turmagant, Sc. tarmegant, termygant, 7 tarmagant, -gon, 7–8 termagent, 8 termigant, 6– termagant.
[In early ME. Tervagant, OF. Tervagan (in La Fontaine 17th c. Tarvagant), proper name in Chanson de Roland a 1100, as in sense 1 here. So It. Trivigante (Ariosto, a 1516). For ulterior history cf. Skeat Etymol. Dict. s.v.]
1. (with capital T.) Name of an imaginary deity held in mediæval Christendom to be worshipped by Muslims: in the mystery plays represented as a violent overbearing personage. (Cf. Mahound 1.) Obs. or arch.
In Lay. applied to gods of the Romans and heathen Saxons.
| c 1205 Lay. 5353 For ȝif hit wulled Teruagant þe us [is] oure god of þisse lond [Rome]. Ibid. 16427 Þe heðene..cleopeden ‘Ure godd Teruagant! whi trukest þu us an hond?’ c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 468/205 Ne bilieuez nouȝht opon Mahun, ne on teruagaunt, [h]is fere. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 197 Þe sarysyne to hys god ȝede, And askede cunseyl... Þan answered hys termagaunt. a 1400 Octouian 919 The Sowdan, that left [= believed] yn Teruagaunt. 1570 Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) 680/2 If he had made hym [Ld. Cobham] some Termagant or Mahounde out of Babilonia. 1597 Bp. Hall Sat. i. i. 4 Nor fright the Reader with the Pagan vaunt Of mightie Mahound, and great Termagaunt. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 15, I could haue such a Fellow whipt for o'redoing Termagant: it out-Herod's Herod. 1637 Heywood Royall King ii. ii, I'le march where my Captaine leads, wer't into the Presence of the great Termagaunt. 1825 Scott Talism. iii, Down with Mahound, Termagaunt, and all their adherents. |
In form tryvigant (from Italian).
| 1591 Harington Orl. Fur. xii. xliv, Blaspheming Tryuigant and Mahomet [Ariosto: Bestemmiando Macone et Trivigante], And all the Gods adord in Turks profession. |
2. A savage, violent, boisterous, overbearing, or quarrelsome person (or thing personified); a blusterer, bully. Now rare exc. as in b.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxvi. 115 Thae tarmegantis [Erschemen], with tag and tatter, Ffull lowd in Ersche begowth to clatter. 1542 Bale Yet a Course, etc. 39 b, Thys terryble termagaunt, thys Neroth, thys Pharao. 1593 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. 12 Oh, but Agrippa was an vrcheon..Sigonius a toy, Cuiacius a bable to this Termagant. 1618 T. Adams God's Bounty ii. Wks. 1861 I. 149 Wealth may do us good service, but if it get the mastery of our trust, it will turn tyrant, termagant. 1824 Scott St. Ronan's xxi, The..consequences that might follow from the displeasure of this Highland termagant [Captain MacTurk]. 1884 S. St. John Hayti vii. 269 Bazin, the military termagant who led the prosecution..browbeat the witnesses, bullied the jury. |
b. spec. A violent, overbearing, turbulent, brawling, quarrelsome woman; a virago, shrew, vixen. (Now the ordinary sense.)
| 1659 Lady Alimony i. iv. B ij, And just so must all our Tavern Tarmagons be us'd. 1732 Gay Achilles ii. Wks. (1772) 239 This girl is..such an arrant termigant, that I could as soon fall in love with a tygress. 1861 Thackeray Four Georges iii, Yonder is Sarah Marlborough's palace, just as it stood when that termagant occupied it. 1896 ‘Ian Maclaren’ Kate Carnegie v. 77 A vulgar termagant..who would call her husband an idiot aloud before a dinner-table. |
3. attrib. or adj. Having the character of a termagant; savage, violent, overbearing, turbulent, brawling, quarrelsome. a. Generally. Now rare.
| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, v. iv. 114 'Twas time to counterfet, or that hotte Termagant Scot had paid me scot and lot too. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden 49 Termagant inkhorne tearmes. 1695 Remarks some late Serm. (ed. 2) 3 Consider the fine Knack these Gentlemen have got at Representation and Character; which you will find so luscious and termagant, as would shame even the Modesty of the Stage. 1711 ‘J. Distaff’ Char. Don Sacheverellio 5 A Man of great Brawn and Muscle, Large, Tall and Termagant. 1869 J. Martineau Ess. II. 213 His dialectic assumes a termagant character. |
b. spec. Of a woman (or her attributes).
| 1667–8 Dryden & Dk. Newcastle Sir Martin Mar-all i. i, His wife, who is a termagant lady. 1678 Dryden Limberham i. i, But this Lady is so Termagant an Empress! 1761 F. Sheridan Sidney Bidulph II. 66 The most termagant spirit that ever animated a female breast. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xviii, ‘I tell ye’, raising her termagant voice, ‘I want my bairn!’ 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. II. viii. 275 The plans of his own termagant niece Queen Constance. |
Hence termagancy (ˈtɜːməgənsɪ) [after nouns in -ancy from adjs. in -ant1], termagant quality, violence of temper or disposition; ˈtermagantish a., resembling, or partaking of the character of, a termagant; ˈtermagantly adv., like a termagant, with violence of temper, outrageously.
| 1709 Mrs. Manley Secret Mem. (1720) III. 198 The good Emperor, mortifyed by the *Termagancy of his Mother. 1716 M. Davies Athen. Brit. II. 318 Exasperated by the sawcy Termigancy of some few insolent Dissenting Preachers. 1753 J. Collier Art Torment. ii. ii. 115 By a violent termagancy of temper, she may never suffer him to have a moment's peace. |
| 1823 in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. 408 Mrs. Scarsfield had something so very *termagantish in her appearance. |
| 1707 Reflex. Ridicule ii. 375 To see..how *termagantly they treat their Husbands. |
▪ II. termagant
obs. erron. form of ptarmigan.