Bible Encyclopedias
Beldam
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
(like "belsire," grandfather, from the Fr. bel, good, expressing relationship; cf. the Fr. belle-mere, mother-in-law, and dame, in Eng. form "dam," mother), strictly a grandmother or remote ancestress, and so an old woman; generally used contemptuously as meaning an old hag.
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Bibliography Information
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Beldam'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/b/beldam.html. 1910.