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Rag
Definitions
- 1 Synonym of Rag and Famish (“the Army and Navy Club in London, England”). UK, obsolete, slang
- 1 Tattered clothes (clothing). especially, in-plural
"—What a pretty dress! —What, this old rag?"
- 2 A coarse kind of rock, somewhat cellular in texture; ragstone. countable, uncountable
"the three walls around the garden, each one of thirty-three feet, were built out of three layers of stone — pebble stone, flint and rag stone."
- 3 A prank or practical joke. dated
"The rascal winked and grinned. 'There are always and means,' said he. 'But don't blame your foreman. He thought it was just a rag. I swapped clothes with his assistant, and in I came.'"
- 4 An informal dance party featuring music played by African-American string bands. US, obsolete
- 5 Initialism of retrieval-augmented generation: a method of augmenting performance of LLMs (large language models) by serving them a curated selection of data input, via a combination of relevant data libraries and on-the-fly but relevant search results. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable
"Moreover, the effectiveness of RAG might decrease if the knowledge base becomes “polluted” by LLM-generated content."
Show 18 more definitions
- 6 a boisterous practical joke (especially by college students) wordnet
- 7 A piece of old cloth, especially one used for cleaning, patching, etc.; a tattered piece of cloth; a shred or tatter.
"Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, toss'd, / And flutter'd into rags; then reliques, beads,"
- 8 A society run by university students for the purpose of charitable fundraising. Ireland, UK
- 9 A ragtime song, dance or piece of music.
- 10 a small piece of cloth wordnet
- 11 A shabby, beggarly person; synonym of ragamuffin. derogatory
"For upon the like Proclamation there, they all came in, both tag and rag"
- 12 newspaper with half-size pages wordnet
- 13 A ragged edge in metalworking.
- 14 music with a syncopated melody (usually for the piano) wordnet
- 15 A sail, or any piece of canvas. slang
"Our ship was a clipper, with every rag set, stunsails, sky-scrapers, and all."
- 16 a week at British universities during which side-shows and processions of floats are organized to raise money for charities wordnet
- 17 Sanitary napkins, pads, or other materials used to absorb menstrual discharge. plural, singular, slang
""It's heaviest on the first day, which might be why it hurts so much. After that, it slows down and eventually stops, but you'll need the rags for about a week.""
- 18 A newspaper or magazine, especially one whose journalism is considered to be of poor quality. derogatory, slang
""You must behave yourself, dear. Mr. Malone is a Pressman. He will have it all in his rag to-morrow, and sell an extra dozen among our neighbors.""
- 19 A poor, low-ranking kicker.
"I have ace-four on my hand. In other words, I have ace-rag."
- 20 A curtain of various kinds. slang
- 21 A person suffering from exhaustion or lack of energy. dated
""It took it out of me, though. I'm a rag this morning." "They work you too hard, dear.""
- 22 A banknote. obsolete, slang
"What was he at, do you think? Counting bank-notes; he had bundles of them. […] Well, Guv'nor, he stood up by-and-by, and taking the bundles of rags, the big uns in one hand, tother ones in tother, he toddled out of the room; […] So I tucked my violin under my arm, and sallied out after the old budgy ragman, determined to ease him of his load at the very first lonesome corner I could track him to."
- 23 An uneven vertical margin (of a block of type).
"We always leave rag on article typeset for the web."
- 1 To decorate (a wall, etc.) by applying paint with a rag. transitive
- 2 To break (ore) into lumps for sorting.
- 3 To scold or tell off; to torment; to banter.
"“Yesterday it was Mademoiselle Daubreuil, today it is Mademoiselle—Cinderella! Decidedly you have the heart of a Turk, Hastings! You should establish a harem!” “It’s all very well to rag me. […]”"
- 4 To play or compose (a piece, melody, etc.) in syncopated time. informal, transitive
"Now let's rag it. We'll keep the notes more or less the same but make the rhythm more fun."
- 5 break into lumps before sorting wordnet
Show 12 more definitions
- 6 To become tattered. intransitive
- 7 To cut or dress roughly, as a grindstone.
"Near-synonym: rough"
- 8 To drive a car or another vehicle in a hard, fast or unsympathetic manner. British, slang
- 9 To dance to ragtime music. informal, intransitive
- 10 censure severely or angrily wordnet
- 11 To menstruate. euphemistic, intransitive, slang, sometimes, vulgar
- 12 To tease or torment, especially at a university; to bully, to haze.
- 13 To add syncopation (to a tune) and thereby make it appropriate for a ragtime song. obsolete
- 14 harass with persistent criticism or carping wordnet
- 15 play in ragtime wordnet
- 16 cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations wordnet
- 17 treat cruelly wordnet
Etymology
From Middle English ragge, from Old English ragg (suggested by derivative raggiġ (“shaggy; bristly; ragged”)), from Old Norse rǫgg (“tuft; shagginess”), from Proto-Germanic *rawwa-, probably related to *rūhaz. Cognate with Swedish ragg. Related to rug.
From Middle English ragge, from Old English ragg (suggested by derivative raggiġ (“shaggy; bristly; ragged”)), from Old Norse rǫgg (“tuft; shagginess”), from Proto-Germanic *rawwa-, probably related to *rūhaz. Cognate with Swedish ragg. Related to rug.
Unknown origin; perhaps the same word as Etymology 1, above.
Unknown origin; perhaps the same word as Etymology 1, above.
Uncertain. Ideas about the scolding and tormenting senses being related to on the rag are only speculative.
Uncertain. Ideas about the scolding and tormenting senses being related to on the rag are only speculative.
Perhaps from ragged. Compare later ragtime.
Perhaps from ragged. Compare later ragtime.
See also for "rag"
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