Noun

(harpies)

A fabulous winged monster, ravenous and filthy, having the face of a woman and the body of a vulture.

* Milton

Both table and provisions vanished quite,
With sound of harpies' wings and talons heard.

A shrewish woman.

:* {{quote-book

, year=1927 , year_published=2008 , edition=HTML , editor= , author=Edgar Rice Burrows , title=The Outlaw of Torn , chapter= citation , genre= , publisher=The Gutenberg Project , isbn= , page= , passage=But her most subtle wiles proved ineffectual in ridding her, even for a moment, of her harpy jailer }}

One who is rapacious or ravenous; an extortioner.

* Goldsmith

The harpies about all pocket the pool.

The European moor buzzard or marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus ).

A large and powerful double-crested, short-winged American eagle (Thrasaetus harpyia ).