rag¹ / rag/ • n. 1. a piece of old cloth, esp. one torn from a larger piece, used typically for cleaning things: he wiped his hands on an oily rag | a piece of rag. ∎  (rags) old or tattered clothes. ∎  (rags) fig. the remnants of something: she clung to the rags of her self-control. ∎  archaic the smallest scrap of cloth or clothing: not a rag of clothing has arrived to us this winter.2. inf. a newspaper, typically one regarded as being of low quality: the local rag.PHRASES: be on the rag inf. be menstruating.chew the rag see chew.in rags (of clothes) tattered and torn. ∎  (of a person) wearing such clothes.rag² • v. (ragged / ragd/ , rag·ging) [tr.] 1. make fun of (someone) in a loud, boisterous manner.2. rebuke severely. PHRASAL VERBS: rag on inf. 1. complain about or criticize continually.2. make fun of; tease constantly.rag³ • n. a large, coarse roofing slate.rag⁴ • n. a ragtime composition or tune.rag⁵ • n. variant of raga.

rag. Piece of hard, coarse-textured stone, capable of being broken into thick, flattish pieces, the commonest types being Kentish rag (tough, hard limestone, readily broken into usable pieces), Rowley rag (a basaltic stone from Staffs.), and other stones, notably in the USA. Rag-stones are not laid in regular courses, and mostly used as facings to brick or other types of stone wall. The appearance of a rag-stone wall is net-like, formed of a pattern of approximate polygons, with the mortar joints coarse (rough-picked) or fine (close-picked). Kentish rag is commonly found in C19 Gothic Revival churches in London and the south-eastern counties of England. Rag is also used in rubble walls.

Bibliography

W. McKay (1957);
J. Parker (1850)

rag1 small fragment of textile material XIV; remnant, scrap XV; thing (contemptuously) regarded as such XVI. ME. ragge, perh. back-formation on ragged (-ED2) shaggy, rough XIII; of irregular or straggling shape XIV; in rags XIV — ON. rǫggvaor tufted; or on raggy (-Y1) late OE. raggig shaggy, f. *ragg — ON. rǫgg tuft or strip of fur; of unkn. orig.

Rāg, rāga (Skt., ‘colour’, a melodic sequence). In Indian music, combinations of notes associated with certain moods and times. The division of the Sikhs' Ādi Granth is by rāg.

Rag

a small scrap of cloth; colts collectively.

Examples : rag of canvas, 1823; a flying rag of cloud, 1873; of colts, 1470; no rag of evidence, 1893; of land, 1650; of other languages, 1597; not a rag of money, 1590; lowest rag of the human race (the rabble), 1649; of rhetoric, 1529.