| 释义 |
nounPlural rags raɡræɡ 1A piece of old cloth, especially one torn from a larger piece, used typically for cleaning things. he wiped his hands on an oily rag Example sentencesExamples - Before she could even get to the rags to start cleaning, she collapsed on the floor.
- ‘Here, let me help you,’ he picked a rag and started cleaning Jonas' closet doors.
- Forty-five years ago, he duked it out with his father over whether to expand into uniforms from the business of reclaiming and cleaning industrial rags.
- It hadn't taken Lee long to come back with a clean wet cloth before the cold rag was pressed to Kris' scalp.
- There should be a clean rag under my pillow on the cot.
- He leaned down to gather clean water in the rag for rinsing, running the cloth over the same areas.
- He searches through drawers and finds a rag to clean the kit.
- The woman strode quickly to the tables, scooped up a few fallen petals, and dusted the throne with a clean rag, though it was already sparkling magnificence.
- Though it follows no known pattern of quiltmaking, and though it is made of bits and pieces of worthless rags, it is obviously the work of a person of powerful imagination and deep spiritual feeling.
- Then he disassembled the rifle and cleaned it with rags and a long, thin brush.
- Pure-white, 100-percent cotton rags are the choice of professional painters.
- Christie kept her eyes fixed on the girl as she wiped her hands clean on a rag and straightened her apron, finally coming out of the kitchen into the hall.
- Even pieces of rags were shoved into the gaps peeping through the corners of its locked door.
- Quickly, he ran to grab some rags to clean up, shaking his head - he knew he'd ruined his chance.
- She hurried over to one of the cabinets, not waiting for an answer, and pulled out a bottle of witch hazel and two clean rags.
- Then she turns back around and hands me a rag, ‘Go clean off the tables then get out of here.’
- The material looked to be nothing more than a small piece of an old rag or the corner of an old handkerchief.
- Finally, polish the tiles with soapy water and a rag or sponge to remove the dried-on film of grout.
- Presently she came back with a kettle of water still warm from the noon fire and a bundle of clean rags.
- Waving pieces of wing fabric and burning oily rags in a bucket, the men enthusiastically entered into this exercise, mindful that it might save them from another night at sea.
Synonyms piece of cloth, bit/scrap/fragment of cloth, cloth North American informal schmatte archaic clout - 1.1rags Old or tattered clothes.
street urchins dressed in rags Example sentencesExamples - At the welcoming ceremony all the children lined up, looking like brilliant, unidentifiable flowers in their rags and robes of reds and maroons.
- As part of a campaign to tame his wild bride, the groom showed up late, wearing rags and old boots, and carrying a broken sword.
- They were dressed and starring blankly around the room at the other girls who were obviously forcing themselves out of bed and into their tattered rags.
- Why were the noble elite of an advanced Iron Age tribe dressed in drab rags and covered in mud?
- There was no water to drink or wash in and children were begging, dressed in filthy rags.
- Clothed in gray rags, the expression on her face was happier than anyone else's Marcy had ever seen: half joy, half, Marcy perceived, stark, raving mad.
- The photograph depicts two youths in horrendously tattered rags.
- There's one guy who gets on the tube with an accordion, while his son, in tattered rags, goes up and down the aisles with a Pringles can to collect spare change.
- Who would leave a child in this kind of weather in nothing but rags?
- But they don't moan, because it's not that big a deal; they simply don their gaudy rags and their dancing shoes and get on with it.
- A lone figure in tattered oily rags walked away from the work pit, ignoring the grunts and noise as slaves returned to their tasks.
- The ‘paint’ consisted of about ten people dressed in multicloured rags who either held on or let go of the roller as the effect required.
- The city and its people were immaculately clean, the paths and squares swept, and the humblest canoemen clean in his rags.
- You could see the homeless on the streets, in their tattered rags and scraps of what were once new, clean clothes; they were all begging.
- Their faces are scarred from infections caused by sandfly bites, and they are dressed in filthy rags.
- These women, of every age of life, with their tattered rags falling off their thin arms, stood silent as we passed.
- He had a clean appearance despite his rags and an honest weary face.
- He was shabbily dressed, but not in tattered rags as many of the beggars had been.
- He is barely recognisable among the grime, dressed in filthy rags and as anaemic and leaden as his surroundings.
- In rags she huddled in the corner of her dank cell.
Synonyms tattered clothes, torn clothing, tatters, old clothes, cast-offs, hand-me-downs - 1.2archaic with negative The smallest scrap of cloth or clothing.
not a rag of clothing has arrived to us this winter
2informal A newspaper, typically one regarded as being of low quality. Example sentencesExamples - There are tabloid rags that sully the name of reporting, and there are informed, articulate blogs that raise this medium to a far more rarefied level.
- It's a slice of journalism worthy of those other weekly rags, like Woman's Day.
- Take the business of this newspaper, the rag that backed the rebel faction, and that was closed down for 60 days last month.
- This is the kind of though-provoking journalism sorely lacking in some of our more prominent rags.
- At the moment I'm torn between having my death notice appear in the local paper for my area, or in the weekly rag that's published in my home town.
- Capitalism is alive and well in the square, even among the socialists, who sell their revolutionary-workers buttons and news rags.
- Livingstone courted right wing rags like the Evening Standard, writing a restaurant column for them.
- Journalists working on the rag are up in arms over a series of anti-Gypsy stories printed over the last few weeks.
- The second disturbing thing was this headline in my local rag.
- He relieves some of his frustration by writing letters to the editor of the local rag and lovingly tends his collection of fountain pens.
- I'm a health care reporter for our local rag.
- I finding that reading the letters in my local rag gives me an insight into the strength of feeling about key issues.
- This was a respectable newspaper and not another of those despicable rags printed in other towns.
- How did she work as a promising and up-rising journalist at one of the country's most popular tabloid rags?
- He interviewed some of rock's greatest musicians and eventually went on to become an editor of the legendary rock rag.
- Verily, we must be living in a golden age of journalism if the number of prize-winning rags and hacks is anything to go by.
- Two weeks back they didn't publish personal ads in my local rag, then last week the kid that delivers the paper left it on top of the letterbox, allowing the rain to do its evil work.
- This was the tactic of the scandal rags and Hollywood gossip sheets, and it was just not done.
- You find yourself warming to the fascist rag when they indulge in top-quality journalism like this.
- Alfreda has seen an advert for that mechanical stage musical, ‘Starlight Express’ in the local rag.
3rare A herd of colts. a rag of colts roamed the moorland Example sentencesExamples - A rag of colts will overrun the streets as the riding center launches a public art exhibition of life-size horses painted by artists.
verbrags, ragged, ragging raɡ [with object]1Give a decorative effect to (a painted surface) by applying paint, typically of a different colour, with a rag. the background walls have been stippled above the dado rail and ragged below Example sentencesExamples - Here he expanded his skills to include marbling, dragging and ragging techniques.
- 1.1 Apply (paint) to a surface with a rag.
Example sentencesExamples - Paint can be textured or distressed, ragged or rolled.
Phrases informal Be menstruating. Example sentencesExamples - Now that everyone in the store was informed of the fact that I was on the rag, I made my selection and took it up to the counter.
- He said he didn't want to see some ugly broads moan about being on the rag.
- At first he was expecting his client to be some pimple face, tub of lard, that choked a guy who made a fat joke while she was on the rag but seeing this girl he now new better than to think of the typical.
- And true, being on the rag makes us all more pains in the butt.
- In grade seven, she leaked red pen all over my seat so that I walked around all day like I was on the rag in my cool new white jeans.
informal Lose one's temper. Example sentencesExamples - Mom loses her rag and threatens to get rid of him approximately twice a day, but he's still here.
- Put anyone in the dugout, anyone, and on 90% of the population it'll have the same effect: they'll tend to lose their rag.
- The only future for him in tennis now is to lose his rag in a rather colourful manner during every match - otherwise we'll just forget he exists.
- During the subsequent backlash, he lost his rag and threw a total hissy fit, complete with flecks of spittle flying from his mouth.
- ‘He can easily lose his rag and get overly aggressive if he's not bowling well,’ White says.
- I was so disappointed and angry that one day on the beach I really lost my rag with him.
- I can't remember the last time I lost my rag with anyone without a high degree of provocation or angst being involved.
- A source told the paper the England captain lost his rag in the dressing room and tore down a joke poster poking fun at his troubles.
- I should have let it drop and said we'd speak in the morning, but instead I lose my rag and tell her I'm going back to the pub and she can sort herself out.
- I went very close to losing my rag and really telling her off, something I've never actually done and don't want to do.
Used to describe a person's rise from a state of extreme poverty to one of great wealth. it was the old rags-to-riches fantasy Example sentencesExamples - Despite his resolve to rise from rags to riches, Jim's economic maneuvers - as he explains to Huck - have been dismal failures.
- The story of the uncompromising short-tempered legendary director is one of rags to riches.
- Resembling the plot of one of his own novels, Dickens's life is a tale of rags to riches, complete with bankruptcy, prison, and forced child labour.
- How did he move from rags to riches almost overnight?
- Collins has no truck with the notion that his fledging career has a rags to riches plotline beloved of comic book fantasy.
- At a stretch it's an interesting look into an unusual immigrants story of rags to riches, and the way that money doesn't guarantee you anything - especially happiness.
- The Industrial Revolution had thrown up a new figure in the form of the self-made man: someone who had risen from rags to riches on the basis of sheer hard work and technical competence.
- His life is often described as a rags to riches story.
- Most of the platinum stars today started out on the road from rags to riches with their own independent label.
- Here, corruption has become the most effective short cut in the journey from rags to riches.
Origin Middle English: probably a back-formation from ragged or raggy. A Scandinavian word for ‘tufted’ probably lies behind rag. In lose your rag (early 20th century) ‘to lose your temper’, rag is probably an old slang term for the tongue—the phrase was originally get your rag out. This sense of rag may well be behind the student rag or prank, found from the early 19th century, and the dated verb meaning ‘to tease, play a joke on’. From rags to riches describes someone's rise from a state of extreme poverty to great wealth, as in a fairytale like Cinderella. The concept is ancient, but the phrase was not recorded until the late 19th century, when a play called From Rags to Riches was mentioned in a US newspaper. A group of people regarded as disreputable or undesirable may be described as ragtag and bobtail. Bobtail (early 17th century) was an established term for a horse or dog with a docked tail, but rag and tag (LME of unknown origin) were separate words conveying the same meaning of ‘tattered or ragged clothes’. Putting them together gives you the literal sense of ‘people in ragged clothes together with their dogs and horses’. In one traditional folk song a lady leaves her house, land, and ‘new-wedded lord’ to run away with ‘the raggle-taggle gypsies’. Raggle-taggle (late 19th century) here is an elaboration of ragtag. Similarly ragamuffin is probably an elaboration of rag. The word is found once c.1400 as the name of a devil, but then not until 1586. The 1990s term ragga for a style of dance music is taken from ragamuffin, because of the style of clothing worn by its fans. Rug (mid 16th century), once a name for a type of coarse woollen cloth, is probably from the same root. The sense ‘small carpet’ dates from the early 19th century. So too is rugged (Middle English). ‘Shaggy’ was an early sense of rugged as was ‘rough-coated’ (in descriptions of horses).
Rhymes bag, blag, brag, Bragg, crag, dag, drag, flag, gag, hag, jag, lag, mag, nag, quag, sag, scrag, slag, snag, sprag, stag, swag, tag, wag, zag verbrags, ragged, ragging raɡræɡ [with object]1Make fun of (someone) in a boisterous manner. he ragged me about not smoking or drinking despite the way I sometimes rag her, she is my sister Example sentencesExamples - It's like watching your child being ragged in the schoolyard.
- I apologize to Mr. Russell for ragging him but that's what happens when you have a rock garden named after you.
- In interviews, he is so polished and articulate that his teammates rag him as an Ivy Leaguer (he went to Nebraska).
- Mind you, that didn't stop us from ragging him rotten all day about being ‘under-equipped’!
- The lads were ragging me about that, declaring I had lost my touch, he laughed.
- Nick's friends rag him about being Suzanne's lapdog, especially after they find out Nick has offered to drive her to the airport.
- I clearly recall ragging my mother for her expensive taste in clothing before I was even a pre-teen.
- He keeps it light and he has just the right touch and timing to know when to rag me about it and when to lay off and let me do things in my own time.
- Instead of being ragged and teased on all year like I was last year, I decided to bring just a few cassettes that I made over the summer.
- Hey, I'm not ragging you guys, it's nice to know someone actually reads my stuff…
- They rag each other endlessly about race and all its permutations, yet two men couldn't be more bonded together than they are in these mysteries.
- Apparently they are not impressed about my ragging their class mascot.
Synonyms make fun of, poke fun at, chaff, tease, make jokes about, mock, laugh at, guy, satirize, be sarcastic about 2Rebuke severely. I ragged a restaurant last week for mangling Key lime pie Example sentencesExamples - If any male relative comes to the village after sunset, the women rag him and sometimes beat him up.
3Ice Hockey
Keep possession of (the puck) by skilful stick-handling and avoidance of opponents, so as to waste time. players ragged the puck in mid-ice to kill off penalties
nounPlural rags raɡræɡ British 1mass noun, usually as modifier A programme of stunts, parades, and other entertainments organized by students to raise money for charity. Example sentencesExamples - The spectacle of seeing drunken teenage boys and girls falling on the streets early in the afternoon shocked many in Sligo during rag week.
- Half the time they act like they are taking part in a university rag week.
- We'd planned loads of entertainment in the bar right across rag week including comedians, bands and DJs.
- Although in the past I know I have fully expressed my dislike for getting taken to school by my parents, during rag week we really had no choice.
- Three men who met as students had been singing university rag songs at the end of a day-long reunion when tragedy struck on a country lane, an inquest heard yesterday.
- He was among 1,000 students involved in the rag procession through the streets of Cheltenham on a Saturday morning.
- Police have given permission for the march to take place although refused to let it begin from York Minster because of the University's student rag week.
- The whole gang get kidnapped by students indulging in some sort of rag week prank.
- A college which closed its bar during rag week last year has vowed to continue its clampdown on alcohol abuse.
- The Institute closed its bar during rag week last year and has developed a code of practice for all drinks-related activity on campus.
- It made me laugh, even though it had a kind of amateur, student rag week kind of feel to it.
- You can't really win against a load of rag week stunts, can you?
- He wasn't a med student collecting in the street for rag week.
- The rag week, from February 8 to 16, is the main source of fundraising.
- For the past eight decades or so, the Union has been housed in its distinctive premises at the bottom of University Avenue, regularly stormed by rival Strathclyde students on rag days.
- Nowhere, did I witness a promotion for soft drinks, sandwiches, soup etc. during rag week.
- In rag week the college's Dome Bar was closed in an effort to encourage moderate alcohol drinking.
Synonyms fundraising event, charity event, charitable event, collection - 1.1dated, informal count noun A boisterous prank or practical joke.
the college is preparing for a good old rag tonight
Phrasal Verbs Complain about or criticize continually. most reports rag on the crudeness of today's gear Example sentencesExamples - This guy is the meekest of mice, since he rags on a person he supposedly cares about.
- I mean ever since I got here, you've just been ragging on me left and right.
- ‘Everyone rags on Baltimore, but I think it's a great city,’ says the sophomore from Rhode Island.
- You lie there defeated, ragging on yourself for the failure, mad at the judges because this can't be fair.
- Let her know you want her to quit ragging on you, pronto.
- I got a reasonably nice and thoughtful email from the guy I ragged on in my last post, although now I'm afraid to go to the site and read his ‘public’ reply.
- For example, my wife rags on me semi-constantly for not looking people directly in the eye when I'm introduced.
- Any guy who rags on the color of your shoelaces is scary.
- I hated to be late because Kristi used to rag on me when I kept her waiting.
- He remembered his own father ragging on him about his hair and clothes.
Origin Mid 18th century: of unknown origin. nounPlural rags raɡræɡ 1A large coarse roofing slate. 2British mass noun A hard, coarse sedimentary rock that can be broken into thick slabs. Example sentencesExamples - Following the defences round, Roman remains, comprising the typical red tile and ragstone, can be seen at Cooper's Row and about 45 m. north of Tower Hill underground station.
- Ahead of us, now, we can see what appears to be a large country house, built of grey ragstone and surrounded by smooth green lawns with the loch lapping at a small pontoon.
Origin Late Middle English (in (sense 2)): of unknown origin; later associated with rag1. nounPlural rags raɡræɡ A ragtime composition or tune. Example sentencesExamples - It is based on traditions of rag music and social protest lyrics.
- Composed rags were widely published and became extremely popular among white amateur pianists, though it is likely that the black creators of ragtime would have played in a much freer manner than the written music suggests.
- It definitely puts his performances of Scott Joplin's rags in a different light!
- Each book contains ballads, blues, Latin pieces and rags.
Origin Late 19th century: perhaps from ragged; compare with ragtime. nounræɡraɡ 1A piece of old cloth, especially one torn from a larger piece, used typically for cleaning things. he wiped his hands on an oily rag Example sentencesExamples - Forty-five years ago, he duked it out with his father over whether to expand into uniforms from the business of reclaiming and cleaning industrial rags.
- She hurried over to one of the cabinets, not waiting for an answer, and pulled out a bottle of witch hazel and two clean rags.
- The woman strode quickly to the tables, scooped up a few fallen petals, and dusted the throne with a clean rag, though it was already sparkling magnificence.
- Quickly, he ran to grab some rags to clean up, shaking his head - he knew he'd ruined his chance.
- Then he disassembled the rifle and cleaned it with rags and a long, thin brush.
- ‘Here, let me help you,’ he picked a rag and started cleaning Jonas' closet doors.
- Though it follows no known pattern of quiltmaking, and though it is made of bits and pieces of worthless rags, it is obviously the work of a person of powerful imagination and deep spiritual feeling.
- Even pieces of rags were shoved into the gaps peeping through the corners of its locked door.
- Presently she came back with a kettle of water still warm from the noon fire and a bundle of clean rags.
- He searches through drawers and finds a rag to clean the kit.
- Before she could even get to the rags to start cleaning, she collapsed on the floor.
- Christie kept her eyes fixed on the girl as she wiped her hands clean on a rag and straightened her apron, finally coming out of the kitchen into the hall.
- Pure-white, 100-percent cotton rags are the choice of professional painters.
- Then she turns back around and hands me a rag, ‘Go clean off the tables then get out of here.’
- The material looked to be nothing more than a small piece of an old rag or the corner of an old handkerchief.
- It hadn't taken Lee long to come back with a clean wet cloth before the cold rag was pressed to Kris' scalp.
- Finally, polish the tiles with soapy water and a rag or sponge to remove the dried-on film of grout.
- He leaned down to gather clean water in the rag for rinsing, running the cloth over the same areas.
- There should be a clean rag under my pillow on the cot.
- Waving pieces of wing fabric and burning oily rags in a bucket, the men enthusiastically entered into this exercise, mindful that it might save them from another night at sea.
Synonyms piece of cloth, bit of cloth, fragment of cloth, scrap of cloth, cloth - 1.1rags Old or tattered clothes.
Example sentencesExamples - The photograph depicts two youths in horrendously tattered rags.
- The city and its people were immaculately clean, the paths and squares swept, and the humblest canoemen clean in his rags.
- The ‘paint’ consisted of about ten people dressed in multicloured rags who either held on or let go of the roller as the effect required.
- As part of a campaign to tame his wild bride, the groom showed up late, wearing rags and old boots, and carrying a broken sword.
- Their faces are scarred from infections caused by sandfly bites, and they are dressed in filthy rags.
- A lone figure in tattered oily rags walked away from the work pit, ignoring the grunts and noise as slaves returned to their tasks.
- Who would leave a child in this kind of weather in nothing but rags?
- You could see the homeless on the streets, in their tattered rags and scraps of what were once new, clean clothes; they were all begging.
- But they don't moan, because it's not that big a deal; they simply don their gaudy rags and their dancing shoes and get on with it.
- Why were the noble elite of an advanced Iron Age tribe dressed in drab rags and covered in mud?
- There was no water to drink or wash in and children were begging, dressed in filthy rags.
- He had a clean appearance despite his rags and an honest weary face.
- He was shabbily dressed, but not in tattered rags as many of the beggars had been.
- In rags she huddled in the corner of her dank cell.
- Clothed in gray rags, the expression on her face was happier than anyone else's Marcy had ever seen: half joy, half, Marcy perceived, stark, raving mad.
- He is barely recognisable among the grime, dressed in filthy rags and as anaemic and leaden as his surroundings.
- At the welcoming ceremony all the children lined up, looking like brilliant, unidentifiable flowers in their rags and robes of reds and maroons.
- They were dressed and starring blankly around the room at the other girls who were obviously forcing themselves out of bed and into their tattered rags.
- There's one guy who gets on the tube with an accordion, while his son, in tattered rags, goes up and down the aisles with a Pringles can to collect spare change.
- These women, of every age of life, with their tattered rags falling off their thin arms, stood silent as we passed.
Synonyms tattered clothes, torn clothing, tatters, old clothes, cast-offs, hand-me-downs - 1.2rags The remnants of something.
she clung to the rags of her self-control - 1.3archaic with negative The smallest scrap of cloth or clothing.
not a rag of clothing has arrived to us this winter
2informal A newspaper, typically one regarded as being of low quality. Example sentencesExamples - This was a respectable newspaper and not another of those despicable rags printed in other towns.
- He interviewed some of rock's greatest musicians and eventually went on to become an editor of the legendary rock rag.
- I finding that reading the letters in my local rag gives me an insight into the strength of feeling about key issues.
- There are tabloid rags that sully the name of reporting, and there are informed, articulate blogs that raise this medium to a far more rarefied level.
- Two weeks back they didn't publish personal ads in my local rag, then last week the kid that delivers the paper left it on top of the letterbox, allowing the rain to do its evil work.
- It's a slice of journalism worthy of those other weekly rags, like Woman's Day.
- You find yourself warming to the fascist rag when they indulge in top-quality journalism like this.
- How did she work as a promising and up-rising journalist at one of the country's most popular tabloid rags?
- He relieves some of his frustration by writing letters to the editor of the local rag and lovingly tends his collection of fountain pens.
- Journalists working on the rag are up in arms over a series of anti-Gypsy stories printed over the last few weeks.
- Livingstone courted right wing rags like the Evening Standard, writing a restaurant column for them.
- The second disturbing thing was this headline in my local rag.
- This is the kind of though-provoking journalism sorely lacking in some of our more prominent rags.
- Verily, we must be living in a golden age of journalism if the number of prize-winning rags and hacks is anything to go by.
- Alfreda has seen an advert for that mechanical stage musical, ‘Starlight Express’ in the local rag.
- Capitalism is alive and well in the square, even among the socialists, who sell their revolutionary-workers buttons and news rags.
- This was the tactic of the scandal rags and Hollywood gossip sheets, and it was just not done.
- Take the business of this newspaper, the rag that backed the rebel faction, and that was closed down for 60 days last month.
- I'm a health care reporter for our local rag.
- At the moment I'm torn between having my death notice appear in the local paper for my area, or in the weekly rag that's published in my home town.
Phrases informal Be menstruating. Example sentencesExamples - At first he was expecting his client to be some pimple face, tub of lard, that choked a guy who made a fat joke while she was on the rag but seeing this girl he now new better than to think of the typical.
- In grade seven, she leaked red pen all over my seat so that I walked around all day like I was on the rag in my cool new white jeans.
- He said he didn't want to see some ugly broads moan about being on the rag.
- And true, being on the rag makes us all more pains in the butt.
- Now that everyone in the store was informed of the fact that I was on the rag, I made my selection and took it up to the counter.
1(of clothes) tattered and torn. Example sentencesExamples - Her fists and claws tore away at his jumpsuit until his shirt was in rags and his bare chest marked with deep cuts and scratches.
- His clothes were in rags, covered with holes and dirt.
- His clothes were in rags and had been washed away by the Sea, and she marvelled at the grace and the beauty of his form.
- It turned out to be John, ‘looking very poorly in health, with all his teeth gone and his clothes in rags.’
- In stumbled a wretch of a man, tall and athletically built, yet covered in dirt and blood, his clothes in rags, his eyes unsteadily flickering from side to side.
- He was angry enough anyway, for not only were his clothes in rags, but they had now taken away his dagger.
- They were unwashed, their clothes all in rags, visible signs of beatings and hunger on them.
- Her dresses were always in rags from riding the ‘manly way’ and from following her older brother around.
- 1.1(of a person) wearing tattered old clothes.
Example sentencesExamples - When my wife and I arrived here, she was in rags, scared of her own shadow,’ I growled.
- She was holding at her shawl as she stood in rags and bare feet.
- Kids in rags walked helplessly around with ‘puppy-dog’ looks in their faces.
- Laborers in rags are squatting in the mud in front of the building.
- She thought it strange that children's clothes were sold here after all, for she had seen very few children, and all of them in rags.
- Washington didn't give up when his soldiers were in rags and despair at Valley Forge.
- Everyone stared at me as I entered; after all, I was in rags and looking very distraught and deranged.
- The poor and sick wandered the streets at night in rags.
- An old man in rags walks past slowly, looking around.
- However, Geneva found that the alley was not ‘vacant’ for two men in rags leered at her from afar.
Origin Middle English: probably a back-formation from ragged or raggy. verbræɡraɡ [with object]1Make fun of (someone) in a loud, boisterous manner. Example sentencesExamples - They rag each other endlessly about race and all its permutations, yet two men couldn't be more bonded together than they are in these mysteries.
- Hey, I'm not ragging you guys, it's nice to know someone actually reads my stuff…
- Mind you, that didn't stop us from ragging him rotten all day about being ‘under-equipped’!
- It's like watching your child being ragged in the schoolyard.
- I clearly recall ragging my mother for her expensive taste in clothing before I was even a pre-teen.
- In interviews, he is so polished and articulate that his teammates rag him as an Ivy Leaguer (he went to Nebraska).
- The lads were ragging me about that, declaring I had lost my touch, he laughed.
- Nick's friends rag him about being Suzanne's lapdog, especially after they find out Nick has offered to drive her to the airport.
- He keeps it light and he has just the right touch and timing to know when to rag me about it and when to lay off and let me do things in my own time.
- Apparently they are not impressed about my ragging their class mascot.
- I apologize to Mr. Russell for ragging him but that's what happens when you have a rock garden named after you.
- Instead of being ragged and teased on all year like I was last year, I decided to bring just a few cassettes that I made over the summer.
Synonyms make fun of, poke fun at, chaff, tease, make jokes about, mock, laugh at, guy, satirize, be sarcastic about 2Rebuke severely. Example sentencesExamples - If any male relative comes to the village after sunset, the women rag him and sometimes beat him up.
nounræɡraɡ British 1usually as modifier A program of stunts, parades, and other entertainments organized by students to raise money for charity. Example sentencesExamples - It made me laugh, even though it had a kind of amateur, student rag week kind of feel to it.
- Police have given permission for the march to take place although refused to let it begin from York Minster because of the University's student rag week.
- You can't really win against a load of rag week stunts, can you?
- Three men who met as students had been singing university rag songs at the end of a day-long reunion when tragedy struck on a country lane, an inquest heard yesterday.
- In rag week the college's Dome Bar was closed in an effort to encourage moderate alcohol drinking.
- The Institute closed its bar during rag week last year and has developed a code of practice for all drinks-related activity on campus.
- The spectacle of seeing drunken teenage boys and girls falling on the streets early in the afternoon shocked many in Sligo during rag week.
- For the past eight decades or so, the Union has been housed in its distinctive premises at the bottom of University Avenue, regularly stormed by rival Strathclyde students on rag days.
- He wasn't a med student collecting in the street for rag week.
- The rag week, from February 8 to 16, is the main source of fundraising.
- A college which closed its bar during rag week last year has vowed to continue its clampdown on alcohol abuse.
- We'd planned loads of entertainment in the bar right across rag week including comedians, bands and DJs.
- Although in the past I know I have fully expressed my dislike for getting taken to school by my parents, during rag week we really had no choice.
- The whole gang get kidnapped by students indulging in some sort of rag week prank.
- Half the time they act like they are taking part in a university rag week.
- He was among 1,000 students involved in the rag procession through the streets of Cheltenham on a Saturday morning.
- Nowhere, did I witness a promotion for soft drinks, sandwiches, soup etc. during rag week.
Synonyms fundraising event, charity event, charitable event, collection - 1.1dated, informal A boisterous prank or practical joke.
Phrasal Verbs 1Complain about or criticize continually. Example sentencesExamples - Any guy who rags on the color of your shoelaces is scary.
- This guy is the meekest of mice, since he rags on a person he supposedly cares about.
- Let her know you want her to quit ragging on you, pronto.
- I got a reasonably nice and thoughtful email from the guy I ragged on in my last post, although now I'm afraid to go to the site and read his ‘public’ reply.
- For example, my wife rags on me semi-constantly for not looking people directly in the eye when I'm introduced.
- You lie there defeated, ragging on yourself for the failure, mad at the judges because this can't be fair.
- He remembered his own father ragging on him about his hair and clothes.
- I mean ever since I got here, you've just been ragging on me left and right.
- ‘Everyone rags on Baltimore, but I think it's a great city,’ says the sophomore from Rhode Island.
- I hated to be late because Kristi used to rag on me when I kept her waiting.
2Make fun of; tease constantly.
Origin Mid 18th century: of unknown origin. nounræɡraɡ A large, coarse roofing slate.
Origin Late Middle English (in rag (sense 2 of the noun)): of unknown origin; later associated with rag. nounræɡraɡ A ragtime composition or tune. Example sentencesExamples - It is based on traditions of rag music and social protest lyrics.
- Composed rags were widely published and became extremely popular among white amateur pianists, though it is likely that the black creators of ragtime would have played in a much freer manner than the written music suggests.
- It definitely puts his performances of Scott Joplin's rags in a different light!
- Each book contains ballads, blues, Latin pieces and rags.
Origin Late 19th century: perhaps from ragged; compare with ragtime. |