Meaning of Xanthippe | Babel Free

Definitions

An ill-tempered woman.

dated, derogatory, literary

Equivalents

Examples

“Be ſhe as foule as was Florentius Loue, / As old as Sibell, and as curſt and ſhrow'd / As Socrates Zentippe, or a worſe: / She moues me not, or not remoues at leaſt / Affections edge in me.”

“RICHARD HOOKER, that rare and admirable Theologiſt, [...] married a clowniſh ſilly Woman and withal a meer Xantippe, [...]”

“[page 235] He was prudent and induſtrious, and ſo good a Huſbandman, that he might have⟳ led a very eaſy and comfortable Life, had not an errant Vixen of a Wife ſoured his domeſtic Quiet. [...] [page 236] By this Xantippe (ſo was the Wife of Socrates called, ſaid Partridge) By this Xantippe he had two Sons, of which I was the younger.”

“Who has not seen the cross looks and peevish temper of the teacher and parent copied, as by a mirror (though we should say⟳ without reflection), in the face⟳ and disposition of the child? [...] From an unbroken course of such treatment, who would expect⟳ any thing but an unbroken line of Nabals and Xanthippes?”

“What have⟳ we seen in our own⟳ personal walks through life to make⟳ us believe⟳ that women are devils? There may possibly have⟳ been a Xantippe here and there, but Imogenes are to be found under every bush.”

“The use⟳ he [Socrates] made of his domestic trial may be profitably remembered by any that have⟳ a Xanthippe to deal⟳ with.”

“The 'kneeling punishment' (罰跪) would seem to be a well recognized mode of enforcing their authority, in use⟳ by Chinese Xanthippes, for the proverb says: 'The Henpecked man is obliged to kneel⟳ with a lamp on his head [to make⟳ it certain that he does not stir⟳] until the morning watch⟳.'”

CEFR level