hag·gard / ˈhagərd/ • adj. 1. looking exhausted and unwell, esp. from fatigue, worry, or suffering: I trailed on behind, haggard and disheveled.2. (of a hawk) caught for training as a wild adult of more than twelve months. Compare with passage hawk.• n. a haggard hawk.DERIVATIVES: hag·gard·ly adv.hag·gard·ness n.

haggard (of a hawk) untamed, wild XVI; †gaunt, lean; wild-looking XVII. — (O)F. hagard, of uncert. orig.; see -ARD. Later infl. in sense by HAG1 (for which haggard occurs XVII–XVIII).

haggard a hawk caught for training as a wild adult of more than twelve months. Recorded from the mid 16th century (used in falconry), the word comes from French, and is perhaps related to hedge, later influenced by hag.

The original notion was of a bird which had fended for itself and might be half-starved as well as untamed; from this developed the usage of haggard to mean looking exhausted and unwell.