RAG • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Rag

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noun

Rag 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." "Not having otherwise any rag of legality to cover the shame of their cruelty."

2.

pl. Hence, mean or tattered attire; worn-out dress. "And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm."

3.

A shabby, beggarly fellow; a ragamuffin. "The other zealous rag is the compositor." "Upon the proclamation, they all came in, both tag and rag."

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."

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 strips of cloth sewed together, end to end.

Rag dust, fine particles of ground-up rags, used in making papier-maché 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.

verb

Rag v. t. To scold or rail at; to rate; to tease; to torment; to banter. (Prov. Eng.)

Rag v. t.

1.

To break (ore) into lumps for sorting.

2.

To cut or dress roughly, as a grindstone.

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 v. i. (past & past part. ragged; pres. part. ragging) To become tattered. (Obs.)

See images of 'Rag'

Etymology of 'Rag'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Rag" Quotes from Famous Books

... a rag?" he said. "Such a simple idea—not my own. I haven't got the brains. You see, I wanted to go into the detective service, especially the anti-dynamite business. But for that purpose they wanted someone to dress up as a dynamiter; and they all swore by blazes ...

— The Man Who Was Thursday - A Nightmare • G. K. Chesterton

... struck him even more than the car was the fur coat, and the haughty and fastidious manner in which Miss Ingram accepted it from the chauffeur, and the disdainful, accustomed way in which she wore it—as though it were a cheap rag—when once it was on her back. In her gestures he glimpsed a new world. He had been secretly scorning the affairs of the luncheon and all that it implied, and he had been secretly scorning himself for his pitiful lack of brilliancy at the luncheon. These two somewhat ...

— The Roll-Call • Arnold Bennett

... and footsteps returning on the gravel. Then the door opened again, and my father entered, and behind him a crouching figure that felt its way with its hands as it crept along, as a blind man might. The figure stood up when it reached the middle of the hall, and mopped its eyes with a dirty rag that it carried in its hand; after which it held the rag over the umbrella-stand and wrung it out, as washerwomen wring out clothes, and the dark drippings fell into the tray with a dull, ...

— John Ingerfield and Other Stories • Jerome K. Jerome

... staying here, Bob, amongst the rats!" cried the terrified little one, attempting to pull his brother towards the entrance by the sleeve of his jacket. The wretched rag gave way even under his weak pull, and another rent was added to the many by which the cold crept in through the poor boy's tattered dress. "I won't stay here; let ...

— The Rambles of a Rat • A. L. O. E.

... distracted from his desperate resolution, he bent over the appalling shroud, opened it with the knife which Faria had made, drew the corpse from the sack, and bore it along the tunnel to his own chamber, laid it on his couch, tied around its head the rag he wore at night around his own, covered it with his counterpane, once again kissed the ice-cold brow, and tried vainly to close the resisting eyes, which glared horribly, turned the head towards the wall, so that the jailer might, when ...

— The Count of Monte Cristo • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

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