Rag
WordNet
noun
(1) A boisterous practical joke (especially by college students)
(2) A small piece of cloth or paper
(3) Newspaper with half-size pages
(4) Music with a syncopated melody (usually for the piano)
(5) A week at British universities during which side-shows and processions of floats are organized to raise money for charities
verb
(6) Break into lumps before sorting
"Rag ore"
(7) Censure severely or angrily
"The mother scolded the child for entering a stranger's car"
"The deputy ragged the Prime Minister"
"The customer dressed down the waiter for bringing cold soup"
(8) Harass with persistent criticism or carping
"The children teased the new teacher"
"Don't ride me so hard over my failure"
"His fellow workers razzed him when he wore a jacket and tie"
(9) Play in ragtime
"Rag that old tune"
(10) Cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
"Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear really bothers me"
"It irritates me that she never closes the door after she leaves"
(11) Treat cruelly
"The children tormented the stuttering teacher"
WiktionaryText
Etymology
- ragge, from ragg, from rǫgg tuft, shagginess - ca. 14th century
- 7 - Short for ragtime - ca. 1897
Noun
- A piece of cloth torn off; a tattered piece of cloth; a shred; a tatter; a fragment.
- Hence, mean or tattered attire; worn-out dress.
- A shabby, beggarly fellow; a ragamuffin.
- A coarse kind of rock, somewhat cellular in texture.
- A ragged edge.
- A sail, or any piece of canvas.
- A piece of ragtime music.
- The song mapleleaf rag has a pleasant, bouncy tune.
- A newspaper, magazine.
- A card that appears to help no one.
- A low card
Quotations
a coarse kind of rock
- 2003: the three walls around the garden, each one of thirty-three feet, were built out of three layers of stome — pebble stone, flint and rag stone. — Peter Ackroyd, The Clerkenwell Tales, 2003, page 1.