[rag] 
| 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.
|
| 6. | a person of shabby or exhausted appearance. |
| 7. | a large roofing slate that has one edge untrimmed. |
| 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. |
[rag] verb, ragged, rag⋅ging, noun Informal.| 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. |
| 4. | British. an act of ragging. |
[rag] | to break up (lumps of ore) for sorting. |
[rag] noun, verb, ragged, rag⋅ging.| 1. | a musical composition in ragtime: a piano rag. |
| 2. | to play (music) in ragtime. |
| rag 1 (rāg) n.
[Middle English ragge, from Old English *ragg, from Old Norse *rögg, woven tuft of wool.] |
| rag 2 (rāg) tr.v. ragged, rag·ging, rags
A practical joke; a prank. [Origin unknown.] |
| rag 3 (rāg) n.
[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.] |
rag
In addition to the idiom beginning with rag, also see chew the fat (rag); from rags to riches; glad rags; run ragged.