From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbattleaxebat‧tle‧axe (also battleax American English) /ˈbætl-æks/ noun [countable] 1 informalWOMAN a very unpleasant woman who tries to control other people2 TZTAFa large axe used as a weapon in the past
Examples from the Corpus
battleaxe• Very few students now choose to adopt a well-meaning motherly landlady or a battleaxe with inflexible house-rules.• Probably a stringy old battleaxe in tweeds. 