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RAG
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected forms: ragged , ragging
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A boisterous practical joke (especially by college students)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("rag" is a kind of...):
practical joke (a prank or trick played on a person (especially one intended to make the victim appear foolish))
Domain region:
Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A small piece of cloth or paper
Synonyms:
rag; shred; tag; tag end; tatter
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("rag" is a kind of...):
piece of cloth; piece of material (a separate part consisting of fabric)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rag"):
pine-tar rag (baseball equipment consisting of a rag soaked with pine tar; used on the handle of a baseball bat to give a batter a firm grip)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Newspaper with half-size pages
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("rag" is a kind of...):
newspaper; paper (a daily or weekly publication on folded sheets; contains news and articles and advertisements)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Music with a syncopated melody (usually for the piano)
Synonyms:
rag; ragtime
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("rag" is a kind of...):
dance music (music to dance to)
Derivation:
rag (play in ragtime)
Sense 5
Meaning:
A week at British universities during which side-shows and processions of floats are organized to raise money for charities
Synonyms:
rag; rag week
Classified under:
Nouns denoting time and temporal relations
Hypernyms ("rag" is a kind of...):
hebdomad; week (any period of seven consecutive days)
Meronyms (parts of "rag"):
rag day (a day on which university students hold a rag)
Domain region:
Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)
II. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they rag ... he / she / it rags
Past simple: ragged
Past participle: ragged
-ing form: ragging
Sense 1
Meaning:
Break into lumps before sorting
Example:
rag ore
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "rag" is one way to...):
break up; fragment; fragmentise; fragmentize (break or cause to break into pieces)
Domain category:
excavation; mining (the act of extracting ores or coal etc from the earth)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Sense 2
Meaning:
Censure severely or angrily
Example:
The customer dressed down the waiter for bringing cold soup
Synonyms:
bawl out; berate; call down; call on the carpet; chew out; chew up; chide; dress down; have words; jaw; lambast; lambaste; lecture; rag; rebuke; remonstrate; reprimand; scold; take to task; trounce
Classified under:
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing
Hypernyms (to "rag" is one way to...):
criticise; criticize; knock; pick apart (find fault with; express criticism of; point out real or perceived flaws)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "rag"):
castigate; chasten; chastise; correct; objurgate (censure severely)
brush down; tell off (reprimand)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s somebody
Sentence example:
Sam cannot rag Sue
Sense 3
Meaning:
Harass with persistent criticism or carping
Example:
His fellow workers razzed him when he wore a jacket and tie
Synonyms:
bait; cod; rag; rally; razz; ride; tantalise; tantalize; taunt; tease; twit
Classified under:
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing
Hypernyms (to "rag" is one way to...):
bemock; mock (treat with contempt)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "rag"):
barrack; flout; gibe; jeer; scoff (laugh at with contempt and derision)
banter; chaff; jolly; josh; kid (be silly or tease one another)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s somebody
Sense 4
Meaning:
Play in ragtime
Example:
rag that old tune
Classified under:
Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing
Hypernyms (to "rag" is one way to...):
play; spiel (replay (as a melody))
Domain category:
music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)
music (musical activity (singing or whistling etc.))
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sentence example:
They will rag the duet
Derivation:
rag (music with a syncopated melody (usually for the piano))
Sense 5
Meaning:
Cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
Example:
It irritates me that she never closes the door after she leaves
Synonyms:
annoy; bother; chafe; devil; get at; get to; gravel; irritate; nark; nettle; rag; rile; vex
Classified under:
Hypernyms (to "rag" is one way to...):
displease (give displeasure to)
Verb group:
chafe (feel extreme irritation or anger)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "rag"):
get; get under one's skin (irritate)
eat into; fret; grate; rankle (gnaw into; make resentful or angry)
peeve (cause to be annoyed, irritated, or resentful)
ruffle (trouble or vex)
fret (cause annoyance in)
beset; chevvy; chevy; chivvy; chivy; harass; harry; hassle; molest; plague; provoke (annoy continually or chronically)
antagonise; antagonize (provoke the hostility of)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Sentence example:
The performance is likely to rag Sue
Sense 6
Meaning:
Treat cruelly
Example:
The children tormented the stuttering teacher
Synonyms:
bedevil; crucify; dun; frustrate; rag; torment
Classified under:
Verbs of feeling
Hypernyms (to "rag" is one way to...):
beset; chevvy; chevy; chivvy; chivy; harass; harry; hassle; molest; plague; provoke (annoy continually or chronically)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "rag"):
madden (drive up the wall; go on someone's nerves)
hamstring (make ineffective or powerless)
badger; beleaguer; bug; pester; tease (annoy persistently)
oppress; persecute (cause to suffer)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Context examples:
It's very bad poetry, but I felt it when I wrote it, one day when I was very lonely, and had a good cry on a rag bag.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
From shoulder to wrist of the crossed arms, the coat-sleeve, blue flannel shirt and undershirt were ripped in rags, while the arms themselves were terribly slashed and streaming blood.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
As he hung over the coffin, his face was concealed by long locks of ragged hair; but one vast hand was extended, in colour and apparent texture like that of a mummy.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
“He was a seaman,” said George Merry, who, bolder than the rest, had gone up close and was examining the rags of clothing.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Morlighem's new topography shows southern Greenland's ragged, crumbling coastline is scored by more than 100 canyons beneath glaciers that empty into the ocean.
(Hidden Greenland canyons mean more sea level rise, NASA)
A torn, ragged, mangled wound, or an accidental cut of esophagus.
(Laceration Of Esophagus, NCI Thesaurus)
Ss-whack! ss-whack! ss-whack! went the horse-whips—for a number of the spectators, either driven onwards by the pressure behind or willing to risk some physical pain on the chance of getting a better view, had crept under the ropes and formed a ragged fringe within the outer ring.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Thinking of "ABCDE" can help you remember what to watch for: • Asymmetry - the shape of one half does not match the other • Border - the edges are ragged, blurred or irregular • Color - the color is uneven and may include shades of black, brown and tan • Diameter - there is a change in size, usually an increase • Evolving - the mole has changed over the past few weeks or months
(Melanoma, NIH: National Cancer Institute)
As he left the room, two rosy-faced boys, ragged and dirty, about eight and nine years old, rushed into it just released from school, and coming eagerly to see their sister, and tell that the Thrush was gone out of harbour; Tom and Charles.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
I think I must have continued my wonder in my dreams, for, sleeping and waking, my thoughts always came back to the little punctures in her throat and the ragged, exhausted appearance of their edges—tiny though they were.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
