mata hari

Mata Hari

MEANING:
noun: A seductive woman who works as a spy.


ETYMOLOGY:
After exotic dancer Mata Hari, a stage name of Margaretha Geertruida Zelle (1876-1917). She was a Dutch woman, who took a Malay name, allegedly spied for the Germans, and was executed by the French. Her stage name Mata Hari means sun, literally "eye of the day", from Malay mata (eye) + hari (day, dawn).


her decapitated head was placed in a museum in france until it was stolen, presumably
by a diehard fan....