sb. (a.) Forms: α. 3 teruagant, 3–5 -aunt. β. 4–7 termagaunt, 6 turmagant, Sc. tarmegant, termygant, 7 tarmagant, -gon, 7–8 termagent, 8 termigant, 6– termagant. [In early ME. Tervagant, OF. Tervagan (in La Fontaine, 17th c. Tarvagant), proper name in Chanson de Roland, a. 1100, as in sense 1 here. So It. Trivigante (Ariosto, a. 1516). For ulterior history cf. Skeat, Etymol. Dict., s.v.]
1. (with capital T.) Name of an imaginary deity held in mediæval Christendom to be worshipped by Mohammedans: in the mystery plays represented as a violent overbearing personage. (Cf. MAHOUND 1.) Obs. or arch.
In Lay. applied to gods of the Romans and heathen Saxons.
c. 1205. Lay., 5353. For ȝif hit wulled Teruagant þe us [is] oure god of þisse lond [Rome]. Ibid., 16427. Þe heðene … cleopeden ‘Ure godd Teruagant! whi trukest þu us an hond?’
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 468/205. Ne bilieuez nouȝht opon Mahun, ne on teruagaunt, [h]is fere.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 197. Þe sarysyne to hys god ȝede, And askede cunseyl…. Þan answered hys termagaunt.
a. 1400. Octouian, 919. The Sowdan, that left [= believed] yn Teruagaunt.
1570. Foxe, A. & M. (ed. 2), 680/2. If he had made hym [Ld. Cobham] some Termagant or Mahounde out of Babilonia.
1597. Bp. Hall, Sat., I. i. 4. Nor fright the Reader with the Pagan vaunt Of mightie Mahound, and great Termagaunt.
1602. Shaks., Ham., I. ii. 15. I could haue such a Fellow whipt for o’redoing Termagant: it out-Herod’s Herod.
1637. Heywood, Royall King, II. ii. I’le march where my Captaine leads, wer’t into the Presence of the great Termagaunt.
1825. Scott, Talism., iii. Down with Mahound, Termagaunt, and all their adherents.
In form Tryvigant (from Italian).
1591. Harington, Orl. Fur., XI. xliv. Blaspheming Tryuigant and Mahomet [Ariosto: Bestemmiando Macone et Trivigante], And all the Gods adord in Turks profession.
2. A savage, violent, boisterous, overbearing, or quarrelsome person (or thing personified); a blusterer, bully. Now rare exc. as in b.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxvi. 115. Thae tarmegantis [Erschemen], with tag and tatter, Ffull lowd in Ersche begowth to clatter.
1542. Bale, Yet a Course, etc., 39 b. Thys terryble termagaunt, thys Neroth, thys Pharao.
1593. G. Harvey, Pierce’s Super., 12. Oh, but Agrippa was an vrcheon … Sigonius a toy, Cuiacius a bable to this Termagant.
1618. T. Adams, God’s Bounty, ii. Wks. 1861, I. 149. Wealth may do us good service, but if it get the mastery of our trust, it will turn tyrant, termagant.
1824. Scott, St. Ronan’s, xxi. The … consequences that might follow from the displeasure of this Highland termagant [Captain MacTurk].
1884. Sir S. St. John, Hayti, vii. 269. Bazin, the military termagant who led the prosecution … browbeat the witnesses, bullied the jury.
b. spec. A violent, overbearing, turbulent, brawling, quarrelsome woman; a virago, shrew, vixen. (Now the ordinary sense.)
1659. Lady Alimony, I. iv. B ij. And just so must all our Tavern Tarmagons be us’d.
1732. Gay, Achilles, II. Wks. (1772), 239. This girl is … such an arrant termigant, that I could as soon fall in love with a tygress.
1861. Thackeray, Four Georges, iii. Yonder is Sarah Marlborough’s palace, just as it stood when that termagant occupied it.
1896. ‘Ian Maclaren,’ Kate Carnegie, v. 77. A vulgar termagant … who would call her husband an idiot aloud before a dinner-table.
3. attrib. or adj. Having the character of a termagant; savage, violent, overbearing, turbulent, brawling, quarrelsome. a. Generally. Now rare.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., V. iv. 114. ’Twas time to counterfet, or that hotte Termagant Scot had paid me scot and lot too.
1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, 49. Termagant inkhorne tearmes.
1695. Remarks some late Serm. (ed. 2), 3. Consider the fine Knack these Gentlemen have got at Representation and Character; which you will find so luscious and termagant, as would shame even the Modesty of the Stage.
1711. ‘J. Distaff,’ Char. Don Sacheverellio, 5. A Man of great Brawn and Muscle, Large, Tall and Termagant.
1869. J. Martineau, Ess., II. 213. His dialectic assumes a termagant character.
b. spec. Of a woman (or her attributes).
1667–8. Dryden & Dk. Newcastle, Sir Martin Mar-all, I. i. His wife, who is a termagant lady.
1678. Dryden, Limberham, I. i. But this Lady is so Termagant an Empress!
1761. Mrs. F. Sheridan, Sidney Bidulph, II. 66. The most termagant spirit that ever animated a female breast.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xviii. ‘I tell ye,’ raising her termagant voice, ‘I want my bairn!’
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq., II. viii. 275. The plans of his own termagant niece Queen Constance.
Hence Termagancy [after nouns in -ANCY from adjs. in -ANT1], termagant quality, violence of temper or disposition; Termagantish a., resembling, or partaking of the character of, a termagant; Termagantly adv., like a termagant, with violence of temper, outrageously.
1709. Mrs. Manley, Secret Mem. (1720), III. 198. The good Emperor, mortifyed by the *Termagancy of his Mother.
1716. M. Davies, Athen. Brit., II. 318. Exasperated by the sawcy Termigancy of some few insolent Dissenting Preachers.
1753. Miss Collier, Art Torment., II. ii. 115. By a violent termagancy of temper, she may never suffer him to have a moment’s peace.
1823. in Spirit Pub. Jrnls., 408. Mrs. Scarsfield had something so very *termagantish in her appearance.
1707. Reflex. Ridicule, II. 375. To see … how *termagantly they treat their Husbands.
