A.Word.A.Day --haggard

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Aug 1, 2008

This week's theme
Words with hidden connections to animals

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popinjay
croupier
boustrophedon
sommelier
haggard

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Metaphorical descriptions of people

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

haggard

PRONUNCIATION:

(HAG-uhrd)

MEANING:

Looking gaunt or exhausted, as from fatigue, suffering, hunger, age, etc.

ETYMOLOGY:

Of uncertain origin, apparently from Old French hagard (wild falcon), perhaps influenced by the word hag. The word is still used for a hawk captured as an adult.

USAGE:

"The war photos [show] a haggard, sweaty, unshaven Marine sucking on a canteen during one of those hellacious South Pacific island battles of World War II."
Peter Carlson; Flashes of Memory; Washington Post; Jun 8, 2008.

See more usage examples of haggard in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations. -Faith Baldwin, novelist (1893-1978)

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