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An elderly lady whom you do not happen to like; sometimes called, also, a hen, or cat. Old witches, sorceresses, etc., were called hags from the belief that their heads were surrounded by a kind of baleful lumination or nimbus -- hag being the popular name of that peculiar electrical light sometimes observed in the hair. At one time hag was not a word of reproach: Drayton speaks of a 'beautiful hag, all smiles,' much as Shakespeare said, 'sweet wench.' It would not now be proper to call your sweetheart a hag -- that compliment is reserved for the use of her grandchildren.
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