banshee

• banshie (dated)
• benshee (obsolete)

From Irish bean sí, from Old Irish ben síde (literally “woman of the fairy mound”). The term banshee entered English in 1771.

• IPA^(key): /bænˈʃiː/, /ˈbænʃiː/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -iː

banshee (plural banshees)

1. (Irish and Scottish folklore) A female spirit, usually taking the form of a woman whose mournful wailing warns of an impending death.
   • 1810, The Lady of the Lake, Walter Scott, 3.VII:

     Late had he heard, in prophet's dream, / The fatal Ben-Shie's boding scream […] .

2. (derogatory) A noisy or ill-tempered woman.
   • 1936, John Thomas McIntyre, Steps Going Down, page 15:

     Where's this old banshee that runs the place?

• A banshee was originally merely a fairy woman who sang a caoineadh (lament) for recently-deceased members of certain families. Translations of Irish works into English made a distinction between the banshee and other fairy folk that the original language and original stories do not seem to have, but from which sprung the current image of the banshee.

• sidhe

• has-been, shabeen, shebean

banshee f (plural banshees)

1. (Irish mythology) banshee (a female spirit who warns of impending death)