From the Greek word for snatcher A female monster that carries souls to Hell; often represented with a womans head and body and a birds wings, legs, claws, and tail She occasionally appears as a more benign spirit that carries souls to another world
A monster race of hideous birdlike women No males of the species are ever born, and it is believed that the creatures reproduce by consuming the genetic material of their victims Very little is know about these beasts, as approaching their domains is extremely perilous
large black-and-white crested eagle of tropical America any of various fruit bats of the genus Nyctimene distinguished by nostrils drawn out into diverging tubes (Greek mythology) vicious winged monster; often depicted as a bird with the head of a woman
disapproval If you refer to a woman as a harpy, you mean that she is very cruel or violent. a snobby, scheming harpy who sells off the family silverware. In Greek and Roman mythology, a bird of prey with a woman's face. Often depicted on tombs, Harpies may originally have been conceived of as ghosts. In early Greek literature, including the writings of Homer and Hesiod, they were wind spirits and were not represented as ugly or repellent. In the legend of Jason and the Argonauts, however, the Harpies were hideous, foul-smelling birds with the faces of women, sent to punish King Phineus of Thrace by defiling his food; they were frightened away by the sons of Boreas