dragon lady

dragon lady Word Origin noun

1. (often initial capital letters) a woman of somewhat sinister glamour often perceived as wielding ruthless or corrupt power.

Origin of dragon lady after the villainous Asian woman in the cartoon strip Terry and the Pirates (1934–1973) created by U.S. cartoonist Milton Caniff (born 1907) Idioms and Phrases with dragon lady dragon lady

A domineering or belligerent woman, as in They called her the neighborhood dragon lady—she was always yelling at the children. This slangy term was originally the name of a villainous Asian woman in Milton Caniff’s popular cartoon strip Terry and the Pirates (1934–1973), which ran in many newspapers. It was transferred to more general use in the mid-1900s.