A harridan is a bad-tempered scolding old woman. An old harridan, a shrieking harridan, that harridan next door.
It is insulting and it is aimed only at women, which is worth knowing before using it — there is no male equivalent in the language. It is archaic and mostly literary now. Note that it probably comes from a French word for a worn-out horse, which does nothing to soften it.
1nounharridanA bad-tempered scolding old woman.
“The old harridan next door shouted at us whenever our ball went over the fence.”
harridan is an insult.
HARRIDan → the HORRID one at the top of the stairs
The horrid old woman at the top of the stairs who shouts at everyone who passes.
hooks ontohorrid
Perhaps from French haridelle, an old worn-out horse. The word appears in English in the seventeenth century.
French
haridelle — old horse, nag
English, today
harridan
Perhaps a modification of French haridelle (“old horse, nag”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire