run someone ragged
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To exhaust or tire someone out completely
Literally: to run someone like a rag
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
There seemed to be no time on the ball, and poor Dylan Kerr was run ragged down the right wing.
Unfortunately a boss, child or loving partner seems intent on running you ragged with one job after another.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “run someone ragged” mean?
To exhaust or tire someone out completely Literally: to run someone like a rag
Is “run someone ragged” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.