Also 6 virragoo, 7 ver-, vyr-, firago. [a. L. virāgo a man-like or heroic woman, a female warrior, etc., f. vir man. Hence also OF., F. and Sp. virago.]
† 1. Woman. (Only as the name given by Adam to Eve, after the Vulgate rendering of Gen. ii. 23.)
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., I. 14. Beo hire nama Uirago, þæt is, fæmne, forðan ðe heo is of hire were ʓenumen.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 633. Virago gaf he hir to nam; þar for hight sco virago, for maked o þe man was sco.
1388. Wyclif, Gen. ii. 23. And Adam seide … This schal be clepid virago, for she is takun of man.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 37 b/1. And Adam gaf here a name lyke as her lord and said, she shal be called Virago, whiche is as moche to saye as made of a man and is a name taken of a man.
a. 1500[?]. Chester Pl., I. 150. Shee shalbe called, I wisse, Viragoo, nothing amisse, For out of man tacken shee is.
1547. Boorde, Brev. Health, ccxlii. 82 b. First when a woman was made of God she was named Virago because she dyd come of a man.
1576. Gascoigne, Droome Doomes Day, I. ¶ 6. Before Eva sinned, she was called Virago, and after she sinned she deserved to be called Eva.
2. A man-like, vigorous and heroic woman; a female warrior; an amazon. Now rare.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VI. 413. The strong virage [L. virago potentissima] Elfeda … halp moche her broþer þe kyng in ȝevynge of counsaile.
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VI. clxxx. (1811), 178. Elfleda,… this noble venqueresse Virago and made, whose vertue can I nat expresse.
1513. Douglas, Æneid, XII. viii. 56. The mynd … Of Juturna, the verray virago; Quhilk term to expone, be myne avis, Is a woman exersand a mannis office.
1553. Eden, Treat. New Ind. (Arb.), 24. One of his wiues … decketh her selfe moste gorgiously … and procedeth like a Virago stoutly and cherefully to the fire, where the corps of her husbande was burnte.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 34. No swarms or trouping horsmen can apale the virago.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 383. This Sultan presented him with the head of that Virago Periaconcona vpon the top of a Launce.
a. 1641. Bp. Mountagu, Acts & Mon. (1642), 361. Shee so ruled as Queene eight yeers and better: a man-like virago of a stout and noble spirit.
1677. W. Hubbard, Narrative (1865), II. 20. That young Virago kept the door fast against them.
1712–4. Pope, Rape Lock, V. 37. To arms! to arms! the fierce virago cries, And swift as lightening to the combate flies.
1781. Cowper, Lett., 5 March. And as to the neutralities, I really think the Russian virago an impertinent puss for meddling with us.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., III. xi. Did not the same virago boast that she had a Cavalry Regiment, whereof neither horse nor man could be injured.
1885. 19th Cent., May, 472. She [Vittoria Colonna] was a virago, a name which, however misapprehended now, bore a different and worthy signification in her day.
† b. Applied to a man. Obs. rare.
c. 1600. Day, Begg. Bednall Gr., IV. i. (1881), 78. Come then, my mad Viragoes,… now I’ll turn swaggerer myself.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., III. iv. 300. Why man, hee’s a verie diuell, I haue not seen such a firago…. They say, he has bin Fencer to the Sophy.
3. A bold, impudent († or wicked) woman; a termagant, a scold.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Man of Law’s T., 359. O Sowdanesse, roote of Iniquitee, Virago, thou Semyrame the secounde [etc.].
1680. C. Nesse, Ch. Hist., 178. God sets this black brand upon this virago Jezabel.
1724. Swift, Quiet Life, Wks. 1755, IV. I. 48. He saw virago Nell belabour, With Dick’s own staff, his peaceful neighbour.
1770. Burke, Corr. (1844), I. 230. No heroine in Billingsgate can go beyond the patriotic scolding of our republican virago.
1838. Jas. Grant, Sk. Lond., 175. It now devolved on her to act the part of a wife who played both the tyrant and virago at home.
1865. Trollope, Belton Est., xxvii. 329. I believe Lady Aylmer to be an overbearing virago, whom it is good to put down.
1891. C. Roberts, Adrift Amer., 90 Three women—a mother and two daughters. These were the greatest viragoes I ever saw.
transf. 1713. Warder, True Amazons (ed. 2), 23. But the Numbers are not great of these forward Viragos [= young bees].
1793. G. White, Selborne, lii. Every hen is in her turn the virago of the yard.
4. a. attrib., chiefly appositive, as virago family, girl, heroine, etc.; also virago-strain.
1598. Florio, Brifalda, a … mankinde, virago woman.
1621. J. Taylor (Water P.), Superb. Flagellum, C vi. Like shamelesse double sex’d Hermaphrodites, Virago Roaring Girles.
1639. G. Daniel, Vervic., 161. But the Virago Queen … doth aggravate Th’ aggreived Lords.
1746. Francis, trans. Hor., Sat., I. i. 131. But a bold wench, of right virago strain, Cleft with an axe the wretched wight in twain.
1760–2. Goldsm., Cit. W., lxii. Petticoated philosophers, blustering heroines, or virago queens.
a. 1843. Southey, Comm.-pl. Bk. (1851), I. 470/1. Edward III.’s queen, Philippa, was of a virago family.
1862. Ansted, Channel Isl., 360. Montfort was taken prisoner; his countess, one of the virago heroines of the time, was besieged in Hennebon.
1891. Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, i. If she had not made Galba and his virago-mother feel the weight of her vengeance, it was only because they were too insignificant.
b. Comb., as virago-like.
1602. Marston, Ant. & Mel., Induct., Wks. 1856, I. 4. An Amazon should have such a voice, virago-like.
1615. Brathwait, Strappado (1878), 92. He doth renew his battery, and stands too’t, And she, Vyrago-like, yeelds not a foole.
Hence Viragoish a., somewhat resembling, or characteristic of, a virago; Viragoship, the character of a virago.
1666. Killigrew, Siege of Urbin, I. ii. How shall we answer at the Resurrection? for our Viragoships? for our own, and others blood, thus shed!
1887. E. Berdoe, St. Bernard’s, 288. The over-dressed, robust, viragoish lady patient.
1888. Lady D. Hardy, Dang. Exper., I. iii. 59. Mrs. Brown’s rather viragoish, coarse-featured face.
