Wiktionary

rag

See also: Rag, RAG, rág, räg, and råg

English

edit
 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

edit

Etymology 1

edit

From Middle English ragge, from Old English ragg (suggested by derivative raggiġ (“shaggy; bristly; ragged”)), from Old Norse rǫgg (“tuft; shagginess”), from Proto-Germanic *rawwa-, probably related to *rūhaz. Cognate with Swedish ragg. Related to rug.

Noun

edit

rag (plural rags)

  1. (especially in the plural) Tattered clothes (clothing).
    —What a pretty dress! —What, this old rag?
    It's semiformal. I can't show up dressed in rags!
    rags to riches
    • 1684, John Dryden, Miscellany Poems: Containing a New Translation of Virgills Eclogues, Ovid's Love Elegies, Odes of Horace and Other Authors, The twenty-ninth ode of the first book of Horace:
      And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm.
  2. A piece of old cloth, especially one used for cleaning, patching, etc.; a tattered piece of cloth; a shred or tatter.
    Hyponyms: dishrag, do-rag, washrag
    • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book III, lines 490-491:
      Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, toss'd, / And flutter'd into rags; then reliques, beads,
    • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain from the Birth of Jesus Christ until the year MDCXLVIII‎[1], page 399:
      […] even by the law of their own might and malice, not having otherwise any rag of legality to cover the shame of their cruelty.
  3. (derogatory) A shabby, beggarly person; synonym of ragamuffin.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, A Veue of the Present State of Irelande:
      For upon the like Proclamation there, they all came in, both tag and rag
    • 1623, Ben Jonson, Time Vindicated to Himself and to His Honours:
      The other zealous rag is the compositor, / Who in an angle where the ants inhabit, / (The emblems of his labors) will sit curl'd
    • 1986 February 8, anonymous author, “It's Not The Sex, It's The Morality”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 29, page 5:
      Nor will it be achieved by marching in the streets in leather, drag, chains, fish net over-flying-tits or any other get up. It will not be accomplished by hung-over bar rags, hustlers, shallow queens, or angry dykes.
  4. A ragged edge in metalworking.
    Coordinate terms: bur, burr
  5. (nautical, slang) A sail, or any piece of canvas.
    • 1864, James Russell Lowell, My Garden Acquaintance; A Good Word for Winter; A Moosehead Journal, page 83:
      Our ship was a clipper, with every rag set, stunsails, sky-scrapers, and all.
    • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 191:
      "'Oh yes, that's all very well, but we haven't done with it yet,' said the lad, 'we shall have it worse directly,' and he ordered them to furl every rag but the mizen."
  6. (singular or plural, slang) Sanitary napkins, pads, or other materials used to absorb menstrual discharge.
    • 2020, Pip Williams, The Dictionary of Lost Words, page 56:
      "It's heaviest on the first day, which might be why it hurts so much. After that, it slows down and eventually stops, but you'll need the rags for about a week."
  7. (slang, derogatory) A newspaper or magazine, especially one whose journalism is considered to be of poor quality.
    Synonym: fish wrap
  8. (poker) A poor, low-ranking kicker.[1]
    I have ace-four on my hand. In other words, I have ace-rag.
  9. (slang, theater) A curtain of various kinds.
  10. (dated) A person suffering from exhaustion or lack of energy.
  11. (slang, obsolete) A banknote.
    • 1876, The Shamrock, volume 14:
      What was he at, do you think? Counting bank-notes; he had bundles of them. […] Well, Guv'nor, he stood up by-and-by, and taking the bundles of rags, the big uns in one hand, tother ones in tother, he toddled out of the room; […] So I tucked my violin under my arm, and sallied out after the old budgy ragman, determined to ease him of his load at the very first lonesome corner I could track him to.
Derived terms
edit
Descendants
edit
  • → Kashubian: reksa (United States)
Translations
edit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

edit

rag (third-person singular simple present rags, present participle ragging, simple past and past participle ragged)

  1. (transitive) To decorate (a wall, etc.) by applying paint with a rag.
  2. (intransitive) To become tattered.
  3. (intransitive, vulgar, slang, sometimes euphemistic) To menstruate.
Derived terms
edit

Etymology 2

edit

Unknown origin; perhaps the same word as Etymology 1, above.

Noun

edit

rag (countable and uncountable, plural rags)

  1. A coarse kind of rock, somewhat cellular in texture; ragstone.
    • 2003, Peter Ackroyd, The Clerkenwell Tales, page 1:
      the three walls around the garden, each one of thirty-three feet, were built out of three layers of stone — pebble stone, flint and rag stone.
Derived terms
edit

Verb

edit

rag (third-person singular simple present rags, present participle ragging, simple past and past participle ragged)

  2. To break (ore) into lumps for sorting.
    Hypernym: dress
  4. To cut or dress roughly, as a grindstone.
    Hypernym: dress
    Near-synonym: rough

Etymology 3

edit

Uncertain. Ideas about the scolding and tormenting senses being related to on the rag are only speculative.

Verb

edit

rag (third-person singular simple present rags, present participle ragging, simple past and past participle ragged)

  2. To scold or tell off; to torment; to banter.
  4. (British slang) To drive a car or another vehicle in a hard, fast or unsympathetic manner.
    Synonyms: beat, thrash
    Hypernym: ride hard and put away wet
  6. To tease or torment, especially at a university; to bully, to haze.
Derived terms
edit
Translations
edit

Noun

edit

rag (plural rags)

  1. (dated) A prank or practical joke.
    • 1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, When the World Screamed‎[2]:
      The rascal winked and grinned. 'There are always and means,' said he. 'But don't blame your foreman. He thought it was just a rag. I swapped clothes with his assistant, and in I came.'
  2. (UK, Ireland) A society run by university students for the purpose of charitable fundraising.
Derived terms
edit

Etymology 4

edit

Perhaps from ragged. Compare later ragtime.

Noun

edit

rag (plural rags)

  1. (obsolete, US) An informal dance party featuring music played by African-American string bands. [19th c.]
  2. A ragtime song, dance or piece of music. [from 19th c.]
Translations
edit

Verb

edit

rag (third-person singular simple present rags, present participle ragging, simple past and past participle ragged)

  1. (transitive, informal) To play or compose (a piece, melody, etc.) in syncopated time.
    • 2020, Ned Bennett, How To Play Jazz Saxophone, page 9:
      Now let's rag it. We'll keep the notes more or less the same but make the rhythm more fun.
  2. (intransitive, informal) To dance to ragtime music.
  3. (music, obsolete) To add syncopation (to a tune) and thereby make it appropriate for a ragtime song.[2]

References

edit
  1. ^ Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. →ISBN
  2. ^ 2001. The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: North America. Garland Publishing. Ellen Koskoff (Ed.). Pg. 651.
  • (banknote): John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary

Anagrams

edit

Breton

edit

Etymology

edit

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Preposition

edit

rag

  1. before

Cornish

edit

Etymology

edit

From Proto-Brythonic *rrak, from Proto-Indo-European *proko-, whence also Old Church Slavonic прокъ (prokŭ, “remaining”), from Proto-Indo-European *pro-.

Preposition

edit

rag

  1. for
  2. in order to

Inflection

edit
Inflection of rag
singular plural
1st person ragov ragon
2nd person ragos ragowgh
3rd person m ragdho ragdha
f rygdhi


Dutch

edit

Etymology 1

edit

Unknown, only found to be related to West Frisian reach, though possibly more distantly to Old Saxon raginna (“rough hair”), Old English ragu (“moss”).

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

rag n (plural raggen, diminutive ragje n)

  1. spider silk
Synonyms
edit
Derived terms
edit

Etymology 2

edit

From English rag.

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

rag n (plural rags, diminutive ragje n)

  1. a piece of ragtime music

German

edit

Verb

edit

rag

  1. singular imperative of ragen
  2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of ragen
See also: ríam

Green Hmong

edit

Etymology

edit

From Burmese ဓား (dha:) ("knife" or "sword").

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

rag

  1. knife, small sword

Hungarian

edit

Etymology

edit

Back-formation from ragad. Created during the Hungarian language reform, which took place in the 18th–19th centuries.

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

rag (plural ragok)

  1. (grammar) terminal inflectional suffix/affix, termination, ending (for nominals, mostly case endings; for verbs and postpositions, personal suffixes; almost exclusively at the very end of a word in Hungarian)
    Hypernym: toldalék
    Coordinate terms: képző, jel

Declension

edit
Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)
singular plural
nominative rag ragok
accusative ragot ragokat
dative ragnak ragoknak
instrumental raggal ragokkal
causal-final ragért ragokért
translative raggá ragokká
terminative ragig ragokig
essive-formal ragként ragokként
essive-modal — —
inessive ragban ragokban
superessive ragon ragokon
adessive ragnál ragoknál
illative ragba ragokba
sublative ragra ragokra
allative raghoz ragokhoz
elative ragból ragokból
delative ragról ragokról
ablative ragtól ragoktól
non-attributive
possessive – singular 		ragé ragoké
non-attributive
possessive – plural 		ragéi ragokéi
Possessive forms of rag
possessor single possession multiple possessions
1st person sing. ragom ragjaim
2nd person sing. ragod ragjaid
3rd person sing. ragja ragjai
1st person plural ragunk ragjaink
2nd person plural ragotok ragjaitok
3rd person plural ragjuk ragjaik

Derived terms

edit
Compound words

See also

edit

Further reading

edit
  • (suffix): rag in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.
  • ([regional] a kind of beam or a part of the roof): rag in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

North Frisian

edit

Alternative forms

edit

Etymology

edit

From Old Frisian *hregg, from Proto-West Germanic *hrugi.

Noun

edit

rag m (plural rager)

  1. (Föhr-Amrum) back (rear of the body)

Scottish Gaelic

edit

Etymology

edit

From Proto-Celtic *razgo-, from Proto-Indo-European *Hreyǵ- (“to bind”), see also Middle High German ric (“string, band”) and Old Irish riag (“a type of torture”).

Adjective

edit

rag

  1. stiff, rigid, inflexible
  2. stubborn, obstinate

Derived terms

edit

Further reading

edit

Somali

edit

Noun

edit

rag ?

  1. man

Tat

edit

Etymology

edit

Cognate with Northern Kurdish reg.

Noun

edit

rag

  1. root

Zhuang

edit

Pronunciation

edit

Etymology 1

edit

From Proto-Tai *C̬.raːkᴰ (“root”). Cognate with Thai ราก (râak), Northern Thai ᩁᩣ᩠ᨠ, Khün ᩁᩣ᩠ᨠ, Lao ຮາກ (hāk), Lü ᦣᦱᧅ (haak), Tai Dam ꪭꪱꪀ, Shan ႁၢၵ်ႈ (hāak), Ahom 𑜍𑜀𑜫 (rak), Nong Zhuang laeg, Zuojiang Zhuang lag, Saek ร̄าก.

Noun

edit

rag (1957–1982 spelling rag)

  1. root

Etymology 2

edit

From Proto-Tai *C̬.laːkᴰ (“to pull; to drag”). Cognate with Thai ลาก (lâak), Lao ລາກ (lāk), Shan လၢၵ်ႈ (lāak), Ahom 𑜎𑜀𑜫 (lak), Nong Zhuang laeg, Zuojiang Zhuang lag.

Verb

edit

rag (1957–1982 spelling rag)

  1. to drag; to pull; to haul
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=rag&oldid=84576733"