rag
rag
- n a small piece of cloth or paper
- n a week at British universities during which side-shows and processions of floats are organized to raise money for charities
- n music with a syncopated melody (usually for the piano)
- n newspaper with half-size pages
- n a boisterous practical joke (especially by college students)
- v treat cruelly
- v cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
- v play in ragtime
rag that old tune - v harass with persistent criticism or carping
- v censure severely or angrily
The deputy ragged the Prime Minister - v break into lumps before sorting
rag ore
- The rag business, as the $12 billion-a-year garment industry dubs itself, is stretching out.
- Following hallowed tradition, the University of Glasgow's 7,000 students piled out last week for one of the biggest rags of their undergraduate lives.
- It is half a century since a newspaper could be called, with any degree of accuracy, a "rag.