| 释义 |
tag-rag, n., a., adv.|ˈtægræg|
[Orig. two words, = both tag and rag: cf. tag n.1 10 b; at length taken as expressing one notion, and hyphened or written as one word, tag-rag, tagrag.]
A. n.
a. The rabble, the riff-raff; also (with pl.) a member of the rabble; a low or despicable person. Now rare exc. as in D.
1609Eburne Maintenance Ministerie 173 Then the ministerie was filled vp with Tag, rag, such as the time would yeeld. 1638Ford Lady's Trial ii. i, Tag, rag, or other, hogen-mogen vanden, Skip-jacks or chouses. 1650A. B. Mutat. Polemo 15 A company of lamentable Tag-rags..going under the names of Colonels, Majors, and Captains. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 85 If ever he prays, it's..to some Tag-Rag, to fetch him a little Ship-Beer. 1826Moore Canonization of St. B-tt-rw-rth xi, Call quickly together the whole tribe of Canters, Convoke all the serious Tag-rag of the nation. 1870J. Patrick Let. 10 Nov. in D. O. Hunter Life Marquess of Bute (1921) v. 96 At the funeral the Rothesay tag-rag outside cheered me as I left the churchyard.
b. With reference to tag n.1, senses 9 and 1, and rag: A ragged tag or appendage.
1827Carlyle Richter in Misc. Ess. (1872) I. 11 No story proceeds without the most erratic digressions and voluminous tagrags rolling after it. 1831― Sart. Res. i. iv, Sentences..buttressed-up by props (of parentheses and dashes), and ever with this or the other tagrag hanging from them. 1885Lang Custom & Myth 18 A rude imitation of the human shape..dressed in some tag-rags of finery.
B. adj.
†a. Of or belonging to the rabble. Obs.
b. Consisting of tags and rags of dress, etc.; dressed in rags, ragged.
1601Shakes. Jul. C. i. ii. 260 If the tag-ragge people did not clap him, and hisse him,..I am no true man. 1675Cotton Scoffer Scoft 90 Tag-rag Plebeans. 1805W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. III. 303 Clad in the tagrag garb of democracy. 1897Daily News 1 Nov. 6/3 Love for his dear, tag-rag, genial, happy-go-lucky green isle!
†C. adv. (for tag and rag.) All to tags and rags; also, pell-mell; one and all; in a mingled crowd or heap, promiscuously. Obs.
1582Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 21 Thee northen bluster aproching Thee sayls tears tag rag, to the sky thee waues vphoysing. 1610B. Jonson Alch. v. ii, Men and women, And of all sorts, tag-rag, [have] beene seene to flock here. 1737Ozell Urquhart's Rabelais i. iv. I. 150 After Dinner they all went tag-rag together to the willow-grove.
D. Phrase.
a. tag, rag, and bobtail [orig. an extension of tag and rag (tag n.1 10 b): see also bobtail.] Now sometimes tagrag and bobtail. A contemptuous term for a number of persons of various sorts and conditions, all and sundry, especially of the lower classes.
1645Just Defence John Bastwick 16 That rabble rout tag ragge and bobtaile. 1660Pepys Diary 6 Mar., They all went down into the dining-room, where it was full of tag, rag, and bobtail, dancing, singing, and drinking. 1692L'Estrange Fables clxxxv. (1714) 198 Jupiter Invited all Living Creatures, Tag, Rag, and Bob-tail, to the Solemnity of the Wedding. 1728Byrom Jrnl. & Lit. Rem. (1856) I. i. 287 Here's thy good health..and all thy little tag, rag, and bobtails. 1785Wolcott (P. Pindar) Odes to R.A.'s ii. 1 Tagrags and Bobtails of the sacred Brush. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge xxxv, ‘We don't take in no tagrag and bob⁓tail at our house, sir’, answered John. 1883Ld. R. Gower My Remin. I. xiii. 251 The mounted police charged the crowd..and our party had to fly before them along with tag, rag, and bob-tail.
b. attrib.
1730Royal Remarks 53 The Dramatis Personæ,..a Tag-Rag and Bob Tail Crew. 1849Thackeray Pendennis vii. (1885) 71 Fancy..your house filled with her confounded tag-rag-and-bobtail relations! 1890Guardian 15 Oct. 1597/1 Inspectors belonging to ‘the tag-rag and bobtail class’.
Hence tag, rag, and bobtailry; and variations tag, rag, and long-tail; tag, rag, and rascality.
1701New Jersey Arch. (1881) II. 414 At ye disposall of ye tag, rag, and Rascality. 1719D'Urfey Pills IV. 113 To make a Match with Tag-rag, and Long-tail. 1858F. E. Paget Curate Cumberworth (1859) 248 A tag, rag, and bobtailry..gathered together..for electioneering purposes. |