haggard
English
WOTD – 7 September 2007
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Old French faulcon hagard (“wild falcon”) ( > French hagard (“dazed”)), from Middle High German hag (“coppice”) [1] ( > archaic German Hag (“hedge, grove”)). Akin to Frankish hagia ( > French haie (“hedge”))[2]
Adjective
haggard (comparative more haggard, superlative most haggard)
- Looking exhausted, worried, or poor in condition
- (Can we date this quote?) Dryden
- Staring his eyes, and haggard was his look.
- 1851, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables:
- Then there was a pale, care-wrinkled woman, not old, but haggard, and already with streaks of gray among her hair, like silver ribbons; one of those women, naturally delicate, whom you at once recognize as worn to death by a brute—probably, a drunken brute—of a husband, and at least nine children.
- 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:
- By the end of two weeks there isn't a county in England where he hasn't pledged his holiness six different ways — which is not to deny that intermittently he has visions of himself as a haggard apostle of the life renounced, converting beautiful women and millionaires to Christian poverty.
- Pale and haggard faces.
- A gradual descent into a haggard and feeble state.
- The years of hardship made her look somewhat haggard.
- (Can we date this quote?) Dryden
- Wild or untamed
- a haggard or refractory hawk
Derived terms
Translations
looking exhausted and unwell
|
wild or untamed
Noun
haggard (plural haggards)
- (falconry) A hunting bird captured as an adult.
- 1599, William Shakespeare}, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 3 Scene 1
- No, truly, Ursula, she is too disdainful;
- I know her spirits are as coy and wild
- As haggards of the rock.
- 1599, William Shakespeare}, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 3 Scene 1
- (falconry) A young or untrained hawk or falcon.
- (obsolete) A fierce, intractable creature.
- (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare
- I have loved this proud disdainful haggard.
- (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare
- (obsolete) A hag.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Garth to this entry?)
Noun
haggard (plural haggards)
- (dialectal, Isle of Man, Ireland, Scotland) A stackyard, an enclosure on a farm for stacking grain, hay, etc.
References
- “haggard” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.
- Le Robert pour tous, Dictionnaire de la langue française, Janvier 2004, p. 547, haie
- Terence Patrick Dolan A Dictionary of Hiberno-English: The Irish Use of English (2006) s.v "haggard" p.118 →ISBN
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