hagfish

3 definitions found

hagfish - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Hag \Hag\ (h[a^]g), n. [OE. hagge, hegge, witch, hag, AS.
     h[ae]gtesse; akin to OHG. hagazussa, G. hexe, D. heks, Dan.
     hex, Sw. h[aum]xa. The first part of the word is prob. the
     same as E. haw, hedge, and the orig. meaning was perh., wood
     woman, wild woman. [root]12.]
     1. A witch, sorceress, or enchantress; also, a wizard. [Obs.]
        "[Silenus] that old hag." --Golding.
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     2. An ugly old woman. --Dryden.
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     3. A fury; a she-monster. --Crashaw.
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     4. (Zool.) An eel-like marine marsipobranch (Myxine  glutinosa
        ), allied to the lamprey. It has a suctorial
        mouth, with labial appendages, and a single pair of gill
        openings. It is the type of the order Hyperotreta.
        Called also hagfish, borer, slime eel, sucker, and
        sleepmarken.
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     5. (Zool.) The hagdon or shearwater.
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     6. An appearance of light and fire on a horse's mane or a
        man's hair. --Blount.
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     Hag moth (Zool.), a moth (Phobetron pithecium), the larva
        of which has curious side appendages, and feeds on fruit
        trees.
  
     Hag's tooth (Naut.), an ugly irregularity in the pattern of
        matting or pointing.
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  Hagfish \Hag"fish`\(-f[i^]sh`),n.(Zo["o]l.)
     See Hag, 4.
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hagfish - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  hagfish
      n 1: eellike cyclostome having a tongue with horny teeth in a
           round mouth surrounded by eight tentacles; feeds on dead or
           trapped fishes by boring into their bodies [syn: hagfish,
           hag, slime eels]