rag

rag¹ scrap of cloth

Etymology

The scrap of cloth is inherited from Middle English ragge,^[2][3][4] probably borrowed from Old Norse rǫgg (“tuft, shagginess, strip of fur”) or a related early Scandinavian form;^{[5][3][6][2][1]} the OED also compares Norwegian ragg, Swedish ragg (“coarse, shaggy hair”) and Old Danish rag (“coarse, shaggy animal hair”).^[5][7] Merriam-Webster and Partridge assume an unrecorded Old English *ragg, inferred from the adjective raggiġ (“shaggy”),^[2][8][1] but Barnhart thinks this adjective very late and almost surely of Scandinavian origin.^[3] Several dictionaries instead take ragge as a back-formation from ragged or raggy,^{[9][10][11][12][13]} and the OED thinks those adjectives at least shaped its meaning, since the Scandinavian words refer to hair, not cloth.^[5] Etymonline traces the Norse word to Proto-Germanic *rawwa-, from Proto-Indo-European *reue- (“to smash, knock down, tear up”),^[6] and the OED to an ablaut variant of the root of Latin ruō (“to churn or plough up”).^[5] It is related to rug and rugged.^[6][3][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the plural, tattered or ragged clothes, often in the phrase in rags: before 1350 in the OED,^[5] about 1325 in Barnhart.^[3] The OED notes surnames with the word earlier, such as Galfridus Rag in 1222 and Willelmus Ragge in 1230.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From the late 14th century a rag was a single piece of old cloth, especially one of the scraps left of a worn garment,^[5][11] and in the 15th century it came to mean any torn shred or remnant, also of flesh.^[5][11] By the 16th century it was used contemptuously of anything worthless,^[11] and Johnson (1755) gave "a piece of cloth torn from the rest; a tatter" first.^[15] From 1676 rag was also the material made from rags, especially paper, as in rag paper.^[5] Other uses followed: a menstrual cloth (1606), slang for a flag (1698–1892), and an insulting name for a newspaper (1734).^[5][6] In American English rags became jocular for any clothes, not only poor ones, by 1855.^[5][6] The phrase rags to riches is attested by 1896, when a play called From Rags to Riches was mentioned in an American newspaper;^[6][14] on the rag, menstruating, is from 1948.^[6] Green's Dictionary of Slang records rag for money from about 1591, in Shakespeare, from its sense of a small amount, later reinforced by the paper banknote.^[16] To lose one's rag, to lose one's temper, is from the early 20th century.^[14][13]

Timeline

• c. 1325 – ragge, in the plural, tattered clothes.^[3]
• c. 1390 – a piece of old cloth.^[5]
• c. 1425 – a shred or fragment of anything.^[5]
• c. 1450 – verb, to tear, make ragged.^[5]
• 1606 – a menstrual cloth.^[5]
• 1676 – cloth as a material for paper.^[5]
• 1734 – a newspaper, insultingly.^[6]
• 1855 – rags, clothes in general, in American English.^[5][6]
• 1896 – rags to riches.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A piece of old cloth, especially one torn from a larger piece: She polished the car with an oily rag.^[13][2][5]
2. rags: old, torn or worn clothes, or informally clothes of any kind: dressed in rags.^[13][2][5]
3. A small piece or scrap of anything; a shred.^[13][5]
4. (informal) A newspaper or magazine, especially one thought to be of poor quality.^[13][6]
5. Cloth as a material, especially for making paper: rag paper.^[5][13]
6. lose one's rag (British informal): to lose one's temper.^[13][14]

Verb

1. (rare) To tear something, or to make it ragged.^[5][9]

Word family

• ragbag
• ragged
• ragman
• ragpicker
• ragtag
• dishrag
• do-rag

rag² to tease; student prank

Etymology

The verb meaning to scold or tease is of unknown origin.^{[2][9][11][10][12]} The OED suggests that it was perhaps a figurative use of rag¹ as a verb, either "to tear", as with tear, or in a sense relating to clothing, as with dress down, and compares bullyrag.^[5] Weekley took it as short for ballyrag or bullyrag,^[17] while Etymonline and Ayto mention a possible link with Danish rag (“grudge”) in Danish dialect.^[6][12] The noun, a rowdy prank or a students' celebration, is formed from the verb.^[5][9][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

To scold, to give someone a dressing-down: 1739, in the Proceedings of the Sessions of the Peace.^[5][16][3]

Semantic evolution

The milder sense, to tease or torment, especially to make fun of someone roughly, is recorded from 1749 and was at first university slang;^[5] Etymonline dates it as student slang by 1808,^[6] and Barnhart finds it in Jamieson's Scottish dictionary of 1808, after the stronger ballarag, to intimidate, in 1807.^[3] The noun rag, first an act of ragging and then a noisy debate or rowdy celebration in defiance of authority, appears in 1825, again in Jamieson.^[5][2] At British universities a rag became a traditional student revel of comic pageantry, and later a programme of stunts and parades to raise money for charity.^[2][9] In Scots and northern English dialect to rag was to tease, vex or wrangle.^[18] In ice hockey to rag the puck (1915) is to keep it by skilful stick-handling to waste time, and in American English to rag on, to criticize constantly, is from 1979.^[5]

Timeline

• 1739 – to scold.^[5][3]
• 1749 – to tease or torment, in university slang.^[5]
• 1807 – ballarag, to intimidate.^[3]
• 1825 – noun, a noisy debate or rowdy celebration.^[5][2]
• 1915 – to rag the puck, in ice hockey.^[5]
• 1979 – to rag on, to criticize, in American English.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (chiefly British) To tease someone or play rough jokes on them: The older boys ragged him about his accent.^[2][9][5]
2. To scold severely; to rail at.^[2][9][5]
3. rag on (US informal): to criticize or complain about someone constantly.^[5]
4. rag the puck (ice hockey): to keep the puck by skilful stick-handling to use up time.^[5]

Noun

1. (British) A programme of stunts, parades and entertainments organized by students to raise money for charity.^[9][2]
2. (chiefly British) A boisterous prank or rowdy celebration, especially by students.^[2][9][5]