Hagrides

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Persistently torments, harasses or oppresses someone, often through worry or guilt ; plagues a sleeper with frightening dreams, as folklore once said a hag did
2. Keeps tormenting a person with anxiety or obsessive fears ; troubles a sleeping person with terrifying nightmares, as if a witch were riding them
3. Relentlessly pesters or weighs heavily on someone mentally ; visits a sleeper with nightmarish visions, in the old belief that a witch sat upon them

Etymology: "Hagrides" is the third-person singular form of "hagride," a verb meaning to torment someone persistently, often by preying on their anxieties or nightmares. The verb is built from two plain English elements: "hag," an old word for a witch or an ugly old woman, and "ride," in the sense of riding someone or something as a burden. Together they describe a tormentor who sits on a victim like a rider on a horse. The image is older than the verb. The word "hag" traces back to Old English "hægtesse," and it became associated with spirits that troubled sleepers, the source of the phrase "hag-ridden," meaning oppressed or exhausted as if by a night-time visitor. The verb "hagride" applies that same picture to persistent mental or emotional torment rather than to a literal nightmare.

Synonyms: harass, torment, plague, haunt, bedevil

Antonyms: comfort, soothe, reassure