rag 1
/rag/ , n.
1. a worthless piece of cloth, esp. one that is torn or worn.
2. rags , ragged or tattered clothing: The tramp was dressed in rags.
3. any article of apparel regarded deprecatingly or self-deprecatingly, esp. a dress: It's just an old rag I had in the closet.
4. a shred, scrap, or fragmentary bit of anything.
5. Informal.
a. something of very low value or in very poor condition.
b. a newspaper or magazine regarded with contempt or distaste: Are you still subscribing to that rag?
6. a person of shabby or exhausted appearance.
7. a large roofing slate that has one edge untrimmed.
8. chew the rag . See chew (def. 9).
9. from rags to riches , from extreme poverty to great wealth: He went from rags to riches in only three years.
[ 1275-1325; ME ragge ragg coarse hair rogg ]
rag 2
/rag/ , v. , ragged, ragging , n. Informal.
v.t.
1. to scold.
2. to subject to a teasing, esp. in an intense or prolonged way (often fol. by on ): Some of the boys were ragging on him about his haircut.
3. Brit. to torment with jokes; play crude practical jokes on.
n.
4. Brit. an act of ragging.
[ 1790-1800; orig. uncert. ]
rag 3
/rag/ , v.t., ragged, ragging .
to break up (lumps of ore) for sorting.
[ 1870-75; orig. uncert. ]
rag 4
/rag/ , n. , v. , ragged, ragging .
n.
1. a musical composition in ragtime: a piano rag.
v.t.
2. to play (music) in ragtime.
[ 1895-1900; shortened form of RAGTIME ]