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hag-ridden

Adjective
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Hag-ridden means oppressed or tormented as if by a hag or witch.

Detailed Definition
The adjective traditionally evokes a supernatural hag riding or tormenting a sleeping person, and it can also mean burdened by persistent troubles. In the poem, “hag-ridden dream” describes the speaker’s former view of rural domestic life.
Example
Example in poetry:
“You used to call home-life a hag-ridden dream” means oppressed as if by a nightmare hag; the term draws on folklore of a demon thought to sit on sleepers; “Hag-ridden by fear, he woke before the bell” preserves its figurative pressure; “The hag-ridden city dreamed under alarms” broadens the adjective into social metaphor
Additional Notes
“Hag-ridden” is an unusual supernatural metaphor meaning tormented or oppressed, as in “a hag-ridden dream.”; Found in the poem, The Ruined Maid by Thomas Hardy
Also Known As
haunted tormented cursed
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