English · Idiom Historical

to rag

Preserved but no longer current.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

To abuse, and tear to rags the characters of the persons abused. She gave him a good ragging, or ragged him off heartily.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Lạm dụng và làm hư danh dự của người bị lạm dụng

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Era: ca. 1811 (Georgian)

Where it’s used: Origin British & Irish English

Sources & notes

Historical definition reproduced from Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1811 edition, public domain; Project Gutenberg #5402, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.

Topics: Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “to rag” mean?

To abuse, and tear to rags the characters of the persons abused. She gave him a good ragging, or ragged him off heartily.

Is “to rag” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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