beldame
beldame · beldames
A grandmotherA grandmother.
/ˈbɛldəm/
Meaning
2 senses(obsolete)A grandmother.
(archaic)An old woman, particularly an ugly one.
an ugly evil-looking old woman
Origin
Inherited from late (1400–1450) Middle English beldame, beldam, from Middle English bel (“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”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.