1. In Greek mythology, one of several loathsome, voracious monsters with the head and trunk of a woman and the tail, wings, and talons of a bird: Jeanette read a story about a hideous, cruel, and filthy harpy which flew swiftly and was very greedy and ravenous.
2. A greedy, predatory person who takes advantage of other people: Greg experienced a harpy who tried to take advantage of him when he tried to borrow money from a local bank.
3. A shrewish woman: Mrs. Snow, the math teacher, was known to be a harpy among her students because she was very unpleasant, distressing and had a fierce temper.
4. A malicious, scolding, nagging, fierce-tempered woman; a woman of violent temper and speech: Mary's nextdoor neighbor, who wasn't married and didn't have any children, was certainly a harpy because she always found fault with Mary's children, was spiteful, hateful, and threatening.
5. Any of various fruit bats of the genus Nyctimene, also known as a tube-nosed bat or a tube-nosed fruit bat: Jane found out in her biology book that harpies were from the tropics, quite large and had nostrils which were prolonged into diverging hollow cylindrical structures.
6. A large black-and-white crested eagle of tropical America; also, Harpia harpyja: The harpy Janet saw in the zoo was short-winged, had a double crest and its claws and bill were extremely powerful. © ALL rights are reserved.

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