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rag - 16 dictionary results
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rag

1  [rag]
Use rag in a Sentence
–noun
1. a worthless piece of cloth, esp. one that is torn or worn.
2. rags, ragged or tattered clothing: The tramp was dressed in rags.
3. any article of apparel regarded deprecatingly or self-deprecatingly, esp. a dress: It's just an old rag I had in the closet.
4. a shred, scrap, or fragmentary bit of anything.
5. Informal.
a. something of very low value or in very poor condition.
b. a newspaper or magazine regarded with contempt or distaste: Are you still subscribing to that rag?
6. a person of shabby or exhausted appearance.
7. a large roofing slate that has one edge untrimmed.
—Idioms
8. chew the rag. chew (def. 11).
9. from rags to riches, from extreme poverty to great wealth: He went from rags to riches in only three years.
Origin:
1275–1325; ME ragge < Scand; cf. Norw, Sw ragg coarse hair < ON rǫgg
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rag

2  [rag] verb, ragged, rag⋅ging, noun Informal.
–verb (used with object)
1. to scold.
2. to subject to a teasing, esp. in an intense or prolonged way (often fol. by on): Some of the boys were ragging on him about his haircut.
3. British. to torment with jokes; play crude practical jokes on.
–noun
4. British. an act of ragging.
Origin:
1790–1800; orig. uncert.

rag

3  [rag]
–verb (used with object), ragged, rag⋅ging.
to break up (lumps of ore) for sorting.
Origin:
1870–75; orig. uncert.

rag

4  [rag] noun, verb, ragged, rag⋅ging.
–noun
1. a musical composition in ragtime: a piano rag.
–verb (used with object)
2. to play (music) in ragtime.
Origin:
1895–1900; shortened form of ragtime
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To rag
rag 1   (rāg)   
n.  
    1. A scrap of cloth.
    2. A piece of cloth used for cleaning, washing, or dusting.
  2. rags Threadbare or tattered clothing.
  3. Cloth converted to pulp for making paper.
  4. A scrap; a fragment.
  5. Slang A newspaper, especially one specializing in sensationalism or gossip.
  6. The stringy central portion and membranous walls of a citrus fruit.

[Middle English ragge, from Old English *ragg, from Old Norse *rögg, woven tuft of wool.]
rag 2   (rāg)   
tr.v.   ragged, rag·ging, rags
  1. Slang To tease or taunt. See Synonyms at banter.
  2. Slang To berate; scold.
  3. Chiefly British To play a joke on.
  4. Sports In ice hockey, to maintain possession of (the puck) by outmaneuvering opposing players, especially so as to kill a penalty.
n.   Chiefly British
A practical joke; a prank.

[Origin unknown.]
rag 3   (rāg)   
n.  
  1. A roofing slate with one rough surface.
  2. Chiefly British A coarsely textured rock.

[Origin unknown.]
rag 4   (rāg)   
tr.v.   ragged, rag·ging, rags
To compose or play (a piece) in ragtime.
n.  A piece written in ragtime.

[Perhaps from ragged.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Rag

Rag\, v. t. 1. (Music) To play or compose (a piece, melody, etc.) in syncopated time. [Colloq.]

2. To dance to ragtime music, esp. in some manner considered indecorous. [Colloq. or Slang]

Rag

Rag\, v. t. [Cf. Icel. r[ae]gja to calumniate, OHG, ruogen to accuse, G. r["u]gen to censure, AS. wr[=e]gan, Goth. wr[=o]hjan to accuse.] To scold or rail at; to rate; to tease; to torment; to banter. [Prov. Eng.] --Pegge.

Rag

Rag\, n. [OE. ragge, probably of Scand, origin; cf. Icel. r["o]gg rough hair. Cf. Rug, n.]

1. A piece of cloth torn off; a tattered piece of cloth; a shred; a tatter; a fragment.

Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, tossed, And fluttered into rags. --Milton.

Not having otherwise any rag of legality to cover the shame of their cruelty. --Fuller.

2. pl. Hence, mean or tattered attire; worn-out dress.

And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm. --Dryden.

3. A shabby, beggarly fellow; a ragamuffin.

The other zealous rag is the compositor. --B. Jonson.

Upon the proclamation, they all came in, both tag and rag. --Spenser.

4. (Geol.) A coarse kind of rock, somewhat cellular in texture.

5. (Metal Working) A ragged edge.

6. A sail, or any piece of canvas. [Nautical Slang]

Our ship was a clipper with every rag set. --Lowell.

Rag bolt, an iron pin with barbs on its shank to retain it in place.

Rag carpet, a carpet of which the weft consists of narrow of cloth sewed together, end to end.

Rag dust, fine particles of ground-up rags, used in making papier-mach['e] and wall papers.

Rag wheel. (a) A chain wheel; a sprocket wheel. (b) A polishing wheel made of disks of cloth clamped together on a mandrel.

Rag wool, wool obtained by tearing woolen rags into fine bits, shoddy.

Rag

Rag\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Ragged; p. pr. & vb. n. Ragging.] To become tattered. [Obs.]

Rag

Rag\, v. t. 1. To break (ore) into lumps for sorting.

2. To cut or dress roughly, as a grindstone.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : rag
Spanish: trapo,
German: der Lumpen,
Japanese: ぼろ切れ
More Translations »

rag  (n.)
c.1310, probably from O.N. rogg "shaggy tuft," earlier raggw-, or possibly from O.Dan. rag (see rug), or a back-formation from ragged (c.1300), which is from O.N. raggaðr "shaggy," via O.E. raggig "rag-like." It also may represent an unrecorded O.E. cognate of O.N. rogg. As an insulting term for "newspaper, magazine" it dates from 1734; slang for "tampon, sanitary napkin" is attested from 1930s. Rags "personal clothing" is from 1855, Amer.Eng. Rags-to-riches "rise from poverty to wealth" is attested from 1947. Ragtop "convertible car" is from 1955. Raghead, insulting term for "South Asian or Middle Eastern person," first attested 1921.

rag  (v.)
"scold," 1739, of unknown origin; perhaps related to Dan. dialectal rag "grudge."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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rag

In addition to the idiom beginning with rag, also see chew the fat (rag); from rags to riches; glad rags; run ragged.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
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