Hag (?), n. [OE. hagge, hegge, with, hag, AS. haegtesse; akin to OHG. hagazussa, G. hexe, D. heks, Dan. hex, Sw. haxa. 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. Zool.

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. Zool.

The hagdon or shearwater.

6.

An appearance of light and fire on a horse's mane or a man's hair.

Blount.

Hag moth Zool., 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.

 

© Webster 1913.


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.

 

© Webster 1913.


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.

 

© Webster 1913.

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