haggard [M16th] A word from falconry, where it is a technical term for an adult hawk caught for training. Unlike hawks bred or raised in captivity, haggards are wild and untamed. Wild-looking people, or their wild-looking eyes, began to be described as haggard in the 17th century, and from there the word developed the sense ‘looking exhausted or unwell’. The word may be related to *hedge. See also hawk.