beldame

1. (obsolete) A grandmother.Examples: "There he was welcom'd of that honeſt ſyre, / And of his aged Beldame homely well; / Who him beſought himſelfe to diſattyre, / And reſt himſelfe, till ſupper time befell."; "Diſeaſed nature oftentimes breakes forth, / In ſtrange eruptions, oft the teeming earth / Is with a kind of collicke pincht and vext, / By the impriſoning of vnruly wind / Within her vvombe, vvhich for enlargement ſtriuing / Shakes the old Beldame earth, and topples down / Steeples and moſſegrovvn towers."obsolete

2. (now archaic) An old woman, particularly an ugly one.Examples: "Justice is an old hobbling beldame, and I can't get her to keep pace with Generosity, for the soul of me."; "[…] have a curiosity to hear my fortune told: therefore, Sam, order the beldame forward."; "Therefore, the teacher of to-day is not the graybeard and beldame, but the man and woman most newly filled with the gathered experience of the world."Synonyms: crone, hag, harridanarchaic