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more about hag
hag |
6 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Hagdon \Hag"don\, n. (Zo["o]l.) One of several species of sea birds of the genus {Puffinus}; esp., {P. major}, the greater shearwarter, and {P. Stricklandi}, the black hagdon or sooty shearwater; -- called also {hagdown}, {haglin}, and {hag}. See {Shearwater}. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Hag \Hag\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Hagged}; p. pr & vb n. {Hagging}.] To harass; to weary with vexation. How are superstitious men hagged out of their wits with the fancy of omens. --L'Estrange. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Hag \Hag\, n. [Scot. hag to cut; cf E. hack.] 1. A small wood, or part of a wood or copse, which is marked off or inclosed for felling, or which has been felled. This said he led me over hoults and hags; Through thorns and bushes scant my legs I drew. --Fairfax. 2. A quagmire; mossy ground where peat or turf has been cut. --Dugdale. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Hag \Hag\, n. [OE. hagge, hegge, with hag, AS h[ae]gtesse; akin to OHG. hagazussa G. hexe, D. heks, Dan. hex, Sw h["a]xa. The first part of the word is prob. the same as E. haw, hedge, and the orig. meaning was perh., wood woman, wild woman. ?.] 1. A witch, sorceress, or enchantress; also a wizard. [Obs.] ``[Silenus] that old hag.'' --Golding. 2. An ugly old woman. 3. A fury; a she-monster. --Grashaw. 4. (Zo["o]l.) An eel-like marine marsipobranch ({Myxine glutinosa}), allied to the lamprey. It has a suctorial mouth, with labial appendages, and a single pair of gill openings. It is the type of the order Hyperotpeta. Called also {hagfish}, {borer}, {slime eel}, {sucker}, and {sleepmarken}. 5. (Zo["o]l.) The hagdon or shearwater. 6. An appearance of light and fire on a horse's mane or a man's hair. --Blount. {Hag moth} (Zo["o]l.), a moth ({Phobetron pithecium}), the larva of which has curious side appendages, and feeds on fruit trees. {Hag's tooth} (Naut.), an ugly irregularity in the pattern of matting or pointing. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: hag n 1: an ugly evil-looking old woman [syn: {beldam}, {beldame}, {witch}, {crone}] 2: eellike cyclostome having a tongue with horny teeth in a round mouth surrounded by eight tentacles; feeds on dead or trapped fishes by boring into their bodies [syn: {hagfish}, {slime eels}] From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]: HAG, n. An elderly lady whom you do not happen to like sometimes called also a hen, or cat. Old witches, sorceresses, etc., were called hags from the belief that their heads were surrounded by a kind of baleful lumination or nimbus -- hag being the popular name of that peculiar electrical light sometimes observed in the hair. At one time hag was not a word of reproach: Drayton speaks of a "beautiful hag, all smiles," much as Shakespeare said "sweet wench." It would not now be proper to call your sweetheart a hag -- that compliment is reserved for the use of her grandchildren.
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