fag 1
/fag/ , v. , fagged, fagging , n.
v.t.
1. to tire or weary by labor; exhaust (often fol. by out ): The long climb fagged us out.
2. Brit. to require (a younger public-school pupil) to do menial chores.
3. Naut. to fray or unlay the end of (a rope).
v.i.
4. Chiefly Brit. to work until wearied; work hard: to fag away at French.
5. Brit. Informal. to do menial chores for an older public-school pupil.
n.
6. Slang. a cigarette.
7. a fag end, as of cloth.
8. a rough or defective spot in a woven fabric; blemish; flaw.
9. Chiefly Brit. drudgery; toil.
10. Brit. Informal. a younger pupil in a British public school required to perform certain menial tasks for, and submit to the hazing of, an older pupil.
11. a drudge.
[ 1425-75; late ME fagge broken thread in cloth, loose end (of obscure orig.); sense development appar.: drooping end > to droop, tire > to make weary > drudgery, drudge (cf. relationship of FLAG 1 to FLAG 3 ); (def. 6) a shortening of FAG END (a butt, hence a cigarette) ]
fag 2
— faggish , adj.
/fag/
n. Slang ( disparaging and offensive ). faggot 2 .
[ 1920-25, Amer.; by shortening ]