rag

Plural: rags

Noun

• a small piece of cloth or paper
• a week at British universities during which side-shows and processions of floats are organized to raise money for charities
• music with a syncopated melody (usually for the piano)
• newspaper with half-size pages
• a boisterous practical joke (especially by college students)
• Tattered clothes (clothing).
• A piece of old cloth, especially one used for cleaning, patching, etc.; a tattered piece of cloth; a shred or tatter.
• A shabby, beggarly person; synonym of ragamuffin.
• A ragged edge in metalworking.
• A sail, or any piece of canvas.
• Sanitary napkins, pads, or other materials used to absorb menstrual discharge.
• A newspaper or magazine, especially one whose journalism is considered to be of poor quality.
• A poor, low-ranking kicker.
• A curtain of various kinds.
• A person suffering from exhaustion or lack of energy.
• A banknote.
• A coarse kind of rock, somewhat cellular in texture; ragstone.
• A prank or practical joke.
• A society run by university students for the purpose of charitable fundraising.
• An informal dance party featuring music played by African-American string bands.
• A ragtime song, dance or piece of music.

Verb

Verb Forms: ragged, ragging, rags

• To tease or scold playfully or harshly.
• treat cruelly
• cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
• play in ragtime
  • "rag that old tune"
• harass with persistent criticism or carping
• censure severely or angrily
  • "The deputy ragged the Prime Minister"
• break into lumps before sorting
  • "rag ore"
• To decorate (a wall, etc.) by applying paint with a rag.
• To become tattered.
• To menstruate.
• To break (ore) into lumps for sorting.
• To cut or dress roughly, as a grindstone.
• To scold or tell off; to torment; to banter.
• To drive a car or another vehicle in a hard, fast or unsympathetic manner.
• To tease or torment, especially at a university; to bully, to haze.
• To play or compose (a piece, melody, etc.) in syncopated time.
• To dance to ragtime music.
• To add syncopation (to a tune) and thereby make it appropriate for a ragtime song.

Examples

• His opponent started to rag him about his low score.
• I have ace-four on my hand. In other words, I have ace-rag.
• It's semiformal. I can't show up dressed in rags!
• rags to riches
• —What a pretty dress! —What, this old rag?

Synonyms

annoy, bait, bawl out, bedevil, berate, bother, call down, call on the carpet, chafe, chew out, chew up, chide, cod, crucify, devil, dress down, dun, frustrate, get at, get to, gravel, have words, irritate, jaw, lambast, lambaste, lecture, nark, nettle, rag week, ragtime, rally, razz, rebuke, remonstrate, reprimand, reproof, ride, rile, scold, sheet, shred, tabloid, tag, tag end, take to task, tantalise, tantalize, tatter, taunt, tease, torment, trounce, twit, vex, beat#Verb, fish wrap, thrash#Verb

Anagrams of rag