haggard

Etymology

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]

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

haggard (comparative more haggard, superlative most haggard)

1. Looking exhausted, worried, or poor in condition
   • Dryden

     Staring his eyes, and haggard was his look.

   • 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

Noun

haggard (plural haggards)

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

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

2. (falconry) A hunting bird captured as an adult.

   A "haggard" is a bird captured as an adult and therefore of unknown age; often, the law prohibits capturing birds of mating age. Falconry Pro

   • 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.

3. (falconry) A young or untrained hawk or falcon.
4. (obsolete) A fierce, intractable creature.
   • Shakespeare

     I have loved this proud disdainful haggard.

5. (obsolete) A hag.

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

References