I. rag 1 /ræɡ/ BrE AmE noun
[ Sense 1-4,6: Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old Norse ; Origin: rögg 'rough hairiness' ]
[ Sense 5: Date: 1800-1900 ; Origin: ragtime ]
1 . CLOTH [uncountable and countable] a small piece of old cloth, for example one used for cleaning things:
He wiped his boots dry with an old rag.
an oily rag
2 . NEWSPAPER [countable] informal a newspaper, especially one that you think is not particularly important or of good quality:
He writes for the local rag.
3 . in rags wearing old torn clothes:
Children in rags begged money from the tourists.
4 . from rags to riches becoming very rich after starting your life very poor:
He likes to tell people of his rise from rags to riches.
⇨ ↑ rags-to-riches
5 . MUSIC [countable] a piece of ↑ ragtime music
6 . STUDENTS’ EVENT [countable] British English an event organized by students every year in order to make money for people who are poor, sick etc:
rag week
⇨ glad rags at ↑ glad (7), ⇨ like a red rag to a bull at ↑ red 1 (5), ⇨ lose your rag at ↑ lose (11)
II. rag 2 BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle ragged , present participle ragging ) [transitive]
[ Date: 1700-1800 ; Origin: Origin unknown ]
British English old-fashioned to laugh at someone or play tricks on them SYN tease