(חָצֵר, Chatser', from חָצִר, to surround or enclose), a word which is of not unfrequent occurrence in the Bible in the sense of a "court" or quadrangle to a palace or other building, but which topographically seems generally employed for the "villages" of people in a roving and unsettled life, the semi-permanent collections of dwellings described by travelers among the modern Arabs as consisting of rough stone walls covered with the tent-cloths, and thus holding a middle position between the tent of the wanderer-so transitory as to furnish an image of the sudden termination of life (Isaiah 38:12) — and the settled, permanent town. (See TOPOGRAPHICAL TERMS).
As a proper name it appears in the A.V.
1. In the plural, HAZERIT, and HAZEROTH, for which see below.
2. In the slightly different form of HAZOR.
3. In composition with other words, giving a special designation to the particular "village" intended. When thus in union with another word the name is HAZAR (See HAZAR) (q.v.). It should not be overlooked that the places so named are all in the wilderness itself, or else quite on the confines of civilized country.