Wiktionary

rag

See also: Rag, RAG, rág, räg, and råg

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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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

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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.
  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
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Descendants
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  • → Kashubian: reksa (United States)
Translations
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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

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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
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Etymology 2

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

Noun

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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
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Verb

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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

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

Verb

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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
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Translations
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Noun

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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
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Etymology 4

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Perhaps from ragged. Compare later ragtime.

Noun

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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
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Verb

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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

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  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

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Breton

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Etymology

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

Preposition

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rag

  1. before

Cornish

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Etymology

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

Preposition

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rag

  1. for
  2. in order to

Inflection

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  Standard Cornish
Singular Plural
First person ragov, ragam, raga'ma ragon, raga nei
Second person ragos ragowgh, raga hwei
Third person ragdho, rag ev(m); rygdhi, rag hei(f) ragdha, ragtans, rag anjei

Dutch

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Etymology 1

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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

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Noun

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rag n (plural raggen, diminutive ragje n)

  1. spider silk
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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From English rag.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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rag n (plural rags, diminutive ragje n)

  1. a piece of ragtime music

German

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Verb

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rag

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

Green Hmong

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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rag

  1. knife, small sword

Hungarian

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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

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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

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Compound words

See also

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Further reading

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

North Frisian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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

Noun

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rag m (plural rager)

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

Scottish Gaelic

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Etymology

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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

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rag

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

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Somali

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Noun

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rag ?

  1. man

Tat

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Etymology

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Cognate with Northern Kurdish reg.

Noun

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rag

  1. root

Zhuang

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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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

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rag (1957–1982 spelling rag)

  1. root

Etymology 2

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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

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rag (1957–1982 spelling rag)

  1. to drag; to pull; to haul
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