hagridden

comparative more hagridden · superlative most hagridden · alternative hag-ridden

1. Tormented by witches, demons, or evil spirits.

   Two months afterwards he was reported fit for duty, but, in spite of the fact that he was urgently needed to help an undermanned Commission stagger through a deficit, he preferred to die; vowing at the last that he was hag-ridden.

   1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Phantom Rickshaw”, in The Phantom 'Rickshaw and Other Tales, Allahabad: A.H. Wheeler and Co., page 9

2. Tormented, harassed or worried.

   So Sir Walter Scott, hag-ridden by debt, if he finished a novel in the morning began another in the afternoon, because, as he explained, it was less difficult to keep the machine running than to start it again after a rest.

   1906 March, Bradford Torrey, “Anatole France”, in The Atlantic

3. Overburdened by fear or dread.

   a man hagridden by the future, haunted by visions of an imminent heaven or hell upon earth

   1942, C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters