hag
noun
- stock character; a wizened old woman, often a malicious witch
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈhæɡ/ / [ˈhæɡ] / /ˈheɪ̯ɡ/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English hag (denoting a gap in a cliff), from Old Norse hǫgg (“cut, gap, breach”), derivative of hǫggva (“to hack, hew”). Compare English hew, Old Swedish hug (“blow, stroke”).
- A small wood, or part of a wood or copse, which is marked off or enclosed 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”
- A marshy hollow, especially an area of peat lying lower than surrounding moorland, formed by erosion of a gully or cutting and often having steep edges.
“And they likewise ordained […] that all the warp should be thrown into the Common wayes, to fill up haggs and lakes, where need was, upon a great penalty, where it should ly neer the Common rode.”
“[…] upon wet brae-sides, peat-haggs, and flow-mosses, […]”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English haggen, from Proto-Germanic *hag(g)ōnan (compare obsolete Dutch hagen (“to torment, agonize”), Norwegian haga (“to tire, weaken”)).
- To harass; to weary with vexation.
“How are Superstitious Men Hagg'd Out of their Wits and Senses, with the Fancy of Omens, Forebodings, Old Wives Tales, and Visions”