haggard

English

WOTD – 7 September 2007

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhæɡ.əd/
• enPR: hăg-ərd' IPA^(key): /ˈhæɡ.ɚd/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æɡəd

Etymology 1

From Middle French haggard, from Old French faulcon hagard (“wild falcon”) ( > French hagard (“dazed”)), from Middle High German hag (“coppice”) ( > archaic German Hag (“hedge, grove”)). Akin to Frankish hagia ( > French haie (“hedge”))

Adjective

haggard (comparative more haggard, superlative most haggard)

1. Looking exhausted, worried, or poor in condition
   • (Can we date this quote by Dryden and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     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.

2. Wild or untamed

   a haggard or refractory hawk

Derived terms

• haggardly
• haggardness

Translations

looking exhausted and unwell

• Bulgarian: измъчен (bg) (izmǎčen), изнурен (bg) (iznuren)
• Chinese: 枯槁 (kūgǎo)
• Czech: ustaraný m, ztrápený m
• Estonian: otsajäänud
• Finnish: riutunut (fi), voipunut, sairaalloisen näköinen, kalvakka (fi)
• French: hagard (fr) m
• German: abgespannt (de), ausgezehrt (de), abgezehrt, mitgenommen (de), verhärmt (de), ausgemergelt (de), abgehärmt, gezeichnet (de), fertig (de) (colloquial)
• Italian: emaciato (it), consunto (it), macilento (it), magro (it), mingherlino (it), smunto, tutta pelle
• Japanese: やつれた (yatsureta)
• Korean: 수척한 (sucheokhan)
• Maori: korotūangaanga
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: abatido (pt)
• Rapa Nui: kavakava
• Romanian: epuizat (ro) m or n, istovit (ro) m or n, secătuit (ro), obosit (ro) m or n
• Russian: измождённый (ru) (izmoždjónnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: оронуо; бије̑дан (Ijekavian), бе̑дан (Ekavian)

  Roman: oronuo (sh); bijȇdan (sh) (Ijekavian), bȇdan (sh) (Ekavian)

• Spanish: consumido (es), macilento (es), trasojado, demacrado (es)
• Swedish: härjad (sv)

wild or untamed

• Estonian: metsik
• Finnish: hurja (fi)
• German: wild (de), ungezähmt, ungebändigt (de)
• Italian: selvatico (it), selvaggio (it)
• Portuguese: selvagem (pt)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Romanian: sălbatic (ro) m or n, nedomesticit m or n, neîmblânzit (ro) m or n
• Russian: неприручённый (ru) m (nepriručónnyj), ди́кий (ru) m (díkij)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: дѝвљӣ

  Roman: dìvljī (sh)

Noun

haggard (plural haggards)

1. (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.

2. (falconry) A young or untrained hawk or falcon.
3. (obsolete) A fierce, intractable creature.
   • (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     I have loved this proud disdainful haggard.

4. (obsolete) A hag.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Garth to this entry?)

Etymology 2

Old Norse heygarðr (“hay-yard”)

Noun

haggard (plural haggards)

1. (dialect, Isle of Man, Ireland, Scotland) A stackyard, an enclosure on a farm for stacking grain, hay, etc.

   He tuk a slew [swerve] round the haggard [1]