To intimidate or dominate through bullying behavior; to harass persistently with demands or criticism.
From the name of Hector, the Trojan hero in Homer's Iliad, but ironically the verb meaning developed from 'Hector' as a character name in 17th century plays who was portrayed as a swaggering bully, quite unlike the noble Homeric character.
It's ironic that 'hector' means to bully, since the original Hector of Troy was actually portrayed as noble and honorable in the Iliad! The shift happened because later literature and theater used 'Hector' as a stock name for boastful, threatening characters, completely reversing the classical hero's reputation in the English language.
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