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Hag vs Beldame - What's the difference?

hag | beldame | Synonyms |

Hag is a synonym of beldame.


As nouns the difference between hag and beldame

is that hag is a witch, sorceress, or enchantress; a wizard or hag can be a small wood, or part of a wood or copse, which is marked off or enclosed for felling, or which has been felled while beldame is (obsolete) a grandmother.

As a verb hag

is to harass; to weary with vexation.

hag

English

Etymology 1

(etyl) hagge, hegge 'demon, old woman', shortening of (etyl) '', ).1987, E. C. Polomé, R. Bergmann (editor), "Althochdeutsch ''hag(a)zussa'' 'Hexe': Versuch einer neuen Etymologie", ''Althochdeutsch 2 (Wörter und Namen. Forschungsgeschichte) , pages 1107-1112.

Noun

(en noun)
  • A witch, sorceress, or enchantress; a wizard.
  • * (rfdate) Golding
    • [Silenus] that old hag .
  • (pejorative) An ugly old woman.
  • A fury; a she-monster.
    • (Crashaw)
  • A hagfish; an eel-like marine marsipobranch, , allied to the lamprey, with a suctorial mouth, labial appendages, and a single pair of gill openings.
  • A hagdon or shearwater.
  • An appearance of light and fire on a horse's mane or a man's hair.
    • (Blount)
  • The fruit of the hagberry, Prunus padus .
    • Synonyms
    * (witch or sorceress) * (ugly old woman) See also * (fury or she-monster) * (eel-like marine marsipobranch) borer, hagfish, sleepmarken, slime eel, sucker * (hagdon or shearwater) * (appearance of light and fire on mane or hair) * (fruit of the hagberry)
    Derived terms
    * fag hag

    Verb

    (hagg)
  • To harass; to weary with vexation.
  • * L'Estrange
    • How are superstitious men hagged out of their wits with the fancy of omens.

    Etymology 2

    Scots ; compare English hack.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A small wood, or part of a wood or copse, which is marked off or enclosed for felling, or which has been felled.
  • * Fairfax
    • This said, he led me over hoults and hags ; / Through thorns and bushes scant my legs I drew.
  • A quagmire; mossy ground where peat or turf has been cut.
    • (Dugdale)

    References

    (Webster 1913)

    Anagrams

    * ----

    beldame

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A grandmother.
  • An old woman, particularly an ugly one.
  • * 1847 , (Charlotte Bronte), Jane Eyre :
  • *:... have a curiosity to hear my fortune told: therefore, Sam, order the beldame forward.
  • * 1982 , (TC Boyle), Water Music , Penguin 2006, p. 6:
    • Suddenly the beldam shrieks as if she's been stuck with a dagger, long rasping insuck of breath: ‘Eeeeeeeee!’

    Synonyms

    * (ugly woman) (l), (l), (l) * See also

    References

    *