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fag

 [fag]   Origin

fag

1   [fag] verb, fagged, fag·ging, noun
verb (used with object)
1.
to tire or weary by labor; exhaust (often followed by out): The long climb fagged us out.
2.
British. to require (a younger public-school pupil) to do menial chores.
3.
Nautical. to fray or unlay the end of (a rope).
verb (used without object)
4.
Chiefly British. to work until wearied; work hard: to fag away at French.
5.
British Informal. to do menial chores for an older public-school pupil.

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Fag is one of our favorite verbs.
So is lollygag. Does it mean:
to spend time idly; loaf.
to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.
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noun
6.
Slang. a cigarette.
7.
a fag end, as of cloth.
8.
a rough or defective spot in a woven fabric; blemish; flaw.
9.
Chiefly British. drudgery; toil.
10.
British Informal. a younger pupil in a British public school required to perform certain menial tasks for, and submit to the hazing of, an older pupil.
EXPAND
11.
a drudge.
COLLAPSE
Origin:
1425–75; late Middle English fagge broken thread in cloth, loose end (of obscure origin); sense development apparently: drooping end > to droop, tire > to make weary > drudgery, drudge (compare relationship of flag1 to flag3); (def. 6) a shortening of fag end (a butt, hence a cigarette)

Related forms
un·fagged, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged

fag

2   [fag]
noun Slang: Disparaging and Offensive.
faggot2.
Origin:
1920–25, Americanism; by shortening

Related forms
fag·gish, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To fag
Collins
World English Dictionary
fag1 (fæɡ)
 
—n
1.  informal a boring or wearisome task: it's a fag having to walk all that way
2.  (Brit) (esp formerly) a young public school boy who performs menial chores for an older boy or prefect
 
—vb (when tr, often foll by out) , fags, fagging, fagged
3.  informal to become or cause to become exhausted by hard toil or work
4.  (Brit) (usually intr) to do or cause to do menial chores in a public school: Brown fags for Lee
 
[C18: of obscure origin]

fag2 (fæɡ)
 
—n
1.  (Brit) a slang word for cigarette
2.  a fag end, as of cloth
 
[C16 (in the sense: something hanging loose, flap): of obscure origin]

fag3 (fæɡ)
 
—n
slang chiefly (US), (Canadian) short for faggot

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

fag
"to droop, decline, tire," 1520s, apparently an alteration of flag in its verbal sense of "droop." Trans. sense of "to make (someone or something) fatigued" is first attested 1826. Related: Fagged.
EXPAND

fag
British slang for "cigarette" (originally, especially, the butt of a smoked cigarette), 1888, probably from fag-end "extreme end, loose piece" (1613), from fag "loose piece" (1486), perhaps related to fag (v.).
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Slang Dictionary

fag definition

[fæg]
  1. n.
    a cigarette. : Hey, pal, gimme a fag.
  2. n.
    and faggot. a homosexual. (Derogatory.) : Who's the fag with the fancy hat? , Who're you calling a faggot?
  3. n.
    a repellent male. (Rude and derogatory.) : You creepy fag. Stop it!
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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