gargoyle

plural gargoyles

1. A carved grotesque figure on a spout which conveys water away from the gutters.

   From between set teeth came now a flow of oaths and imprecations as steady as the flow of water from the gargoyle overhead.

   1906, Rafael Sabatini, The Trampling of the Lilies, page 110

   1 more example

   As we went, however, I took the precaution of noting our route as well as I could; and this was not so very difficult, owing to the extraordinary and most fantastic shape of the rocks that were strewn about, many of which in that dim light looked more like the grim faces carven upon mediæval gargoyles than ordinary boulders.

   1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC

2. Any decorative carved grotesque figure on a building.

   The long-closed G.W.R. station alongside has a decidedly derelict-looking frontage, with eight gargoyles or figureheads still clinging to the portico.

   1952 February, R. A. H. Weight, “A Railway Recorder in Wessex”, in Railway Magazine, page 131

   Synonyms: grotesque, hunky punk

3. A fictional winged monster.

   Almost immediately one of the gargoyles swept down from the sky and attacked him. The gargoyle's momentum drove them both over the side.

   2005, Mel Odom, The Secret Explodes, page 200

4. derogatoryAn ugly woman.

   Above all, in what reckless moment had she encouraged that person and her gargoyle of a mother to move to Mayfair, and set up house around the corner?

   2011, Emma Donoghue, Life Mask

   Synonyms: crone, hag