Dictionary

hagridden en · ADJ

Etymology

From hag + ridden.

Meanings

1. Tormented by witches, demons, or evil spirits.
   • Two months afterwards he was reported fit for duty, but, in spite of the fact that he was urgently needed to help an undermanned Commission stagger through a deficit, he preferred to die; vowing at the last that he was hag-ridden. 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Phantom Rickshaw”, in The Phantom 'Rickshaw and Other Tales, Allahabad: A.H. Wheeler and Co., page 9:
2. Tormented, harassed or worried.
   • So Sir Walter Scott, hag-ridden by debt, if he finished a novel in the morning began another in the afternoon, because, as he explained, it was less difficult to keep the machine running than to start it again after a rest. 1906 March, Bradford Torrey, “Anatole France”, in The Atlantic:
3. Overburdened by fear or dread.
   • a man hagridden by the future, haunted by visions of an imminent heaven or hell upon earth 1942, C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters:

Forms

Relateds

hagride