hagworm dial.
(ˈhægwɜːm)
[a. ON. hǫggormr, the adder, f. hǫgg (:—haggw-) cutting stroke + ormr worm. (In different localities hag seems to be taken as = copse, hedge, or bog.)]
A northern name for the adder or viper; but in some districts applied to the common snake, and in others to the blindworm.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 169/2 An Hagworme, jaculus. 1631 R. H. Arraignm. Whole Creature ix. 69 That great hag⁓worme of a Corroding Conscience. 1787 Grose Provinc. Gloss., Hag-worms, snakes of all kinds. Yorks. 1828 Craven Dial., Hag-worm, a snake, or blind worm, haunting the hag or hedge. 1844 Selby in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. No. 12. 87 A large specimen of the Slow or Hag-worm, Anguis fragilis. 1858 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. II. lxvii. 6 A snake (a poor harmless creature, by the way..always excepting the hag-worm). 1891 Atkinson Moorland Par. 313, I could account for the presence of the hag worm three or four feet below the surface of the hone. |