rag

rag
    n 1: a small piece of cloth or paper [syn: {rag}, {shred},
         {tag}, {tag end}, {tatter}]
    2: a week at British universities during which side-shows and
       processions of floats are organized to raise money for
       charities [syn: {rag}, {rag week}]
    3: music with a syncopated melody (usually for the piano) [syn:
       {ragtime}, {rag}]
    4: newspaper with half-size pages [syn: {tabloid}, {rag},
       {sheet}]
    5: a boisterous practical joke (especially by college students)
    v 1: treat cruelly; "The children tormented the stuttering
         teacher" [syn: {torment}, {rag}, {bedevil}, {crucify},
         {dun}, {frustrate}]
    2: cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations;
       "Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear really bothers me"; "It
       irritates me that she never closes the door after she leaves"
       [syn: {annoy}, {rag}, {get to}, {bother}, {get at},
       {irritate}, {rile}, {nark}, {nettle}, {gravel}, {vex},
       {chafe}, {devil}]
    3: play in ragtime; "rag that old tune"
    4: harass with persistent criticism or carping; "The children
       teased the new teacher"; "Don't ride me so hard over my
       failure"; "His fellow workers razzed him when he wore a
       jacket and tie" [syn: {tease}, {razz}, {rag}, {cod},
       {tantalize}, {tantalise}, {bait}, {taunt}, {twit}, {rally},
       {ride}]
    5: censure severely or angrily; "The mother scolded the child
       for entering a stranger's car"; "The deputy ragged the Prime
       Minister"; "The customer dressed down the waiter for bringing
       cold soup" [syn: {call on the carpet}, {take to task},
       {rebuke}, {rag}, {trounce}, {reproof}, {lecture},
       {reprimand}, {jaw}, {dress down}, {call down}, {scold},
       {chide}, {berate}, {bawl out}, {remonstrate}, {chew out},
       {chew up}, {have words}, {lambaste}, {lambast}]
    6: break into lumps before sorting; "rag ore"
    

Rag \Rag\, v. t.
   1. (Music) To play or compose (a piece, melody, etc.) in
      syncopated time. [Colloq.]
      [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

   2. To dance to ragtime music, esp. in some manner considered
      indecorous. [Colloq. or Slang]
      [Webster 1913 Suppl.] Ragabash
    

Rag \Rag\ (r[a^]g), v. t. [Cf. Icel. r[ae]gja to calumniate,
   OHG. ruogen to accuse, G. r["u]gen to censure, AS. wr[=e]gan,
   Goth. wr[=o]hjan to accuse.]
   To scold or rail at; to rate; to tease; to torment; to
   banter. [Prov. Eng.] --Pegge.
   [1913 Webster]
    

Rag \Rag\, n. [OE. ragge, probably of Scand, origin; cf. Icel.
   r["o]gg a tuft, shagginess, Sw. ragg rough hair. Cf. {Rug},
   n.]
   1. A piece of cloth torn off; a tattered piece of cloth; a
      shred; a tatter; a fragment.
      [1913 Webster]

            Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers,
            tossed,
            And fluttered into rags.              --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

            Not having otherwise any rag of legality to cover
            the shame of their cruelty.           --Fuller.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. pl. Hence, mean or tattered attire; worn-out dress.
      [1913 Webster]

            And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm.
                                                  --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A shabby, beggarly fellow; a ragamuffin.
      [1913 Webster]

            The other zealous rag is the compositor. --B.
                                                  Jonson.
      [1913 Webster]

            Upon the proclamation, they all came in, both tag
            and rag.                              --Spenser.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Geol.) A coarse kind of rock, somewhat cellular in
      texture.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. (Metal Working) A ragged edge.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. A sail, or any piece of canvas. [Nautical Slang]
      [1913 Webster]

            Our ship was a clipper with every rag set. --Lowell.
      [1913 Webster]

   {Rag bolt}, an iron pin with barbs on its shank to retain it
      in place.

   {Rag carpet}, a carpet of which the weft consists of narrow
      strips of cloth sewed together, end to end.

   {Rag dust}, fine particles of ground-up rags, used in making
      papier-mach['e] and wall papers.

   {Rag wheel}.
      (a) A chain wheel; a sprocket wheel.
      (b) A polishing wheel made of disks of cloth clamped
          together on a mandrel.

   {Rag wool}, wool obtained by tearing woolen rags into fine
      bits, shoddy.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Rag \Rag\ (r[a^]g), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Ragged} (r[a^]gd); p.
   pr. & vb. n. {Ragging} (r[a^]g"g[i^]ng).]
   To become tattered. [Obs.]
   [1913 Webster]
    

Rag \Rag\, v. t.
   1. To break (ore) into lumps for sorting.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To cut or dress roughly, as a grindstone.
      [1913 Webster]
    

316 Moby Thesaurus words for "rag":
      abuse, acid rock, act drop, afterglow, afterimage, andante tempo,
      apparel, array, asbestos, asbestos board, attire, avant-garde jazz,
      backdrop, balance, ballroom music, banter, bark at, baste, batten,
      bawl out, beat, bebop, bedizenment, berate, betongue, blacken,
      boltrope, bones, boogie-woogie, bop, border, butt, butt end,
      candle ends, canvas, carpet, chaff, chew, chew out, clew, cloth,
      clothes, clothing, compound time, costume, coulisse, counterweight,
      country rock, cringle, crowd of sail, culm, curtain, curtain board,
      cyclorama, daily, daily newspaper, dance music, dances, deadwood,
      debris, decor, deride, detritus, dishwater, draff, drapery, dregs,
      dress, dressing, drop, drop curtain, duds, duple time, dust,
      earing, end, etoffe, execrate, extra, extra edition, fabric,
      fag end, fashion, fatigues, feathers, felt, fig, filings,
      fire curtain, flat, flipper, folk rock, fool, foot,
      fore-and-aft sail, fossil, frock, fulminate against, fun, garb,
      garbage, garment, garments, gash, gazette, gear, goods, gown,
      grin at, guise, habiliment, habit, hanging, hard rock, haze, head,
      hogwash, hold in derision, holdover, hot jazz, husks, investiture,
      investment, jape, jaw, jazz, jest, jive, joke, jolly, josh, kid,
      lace, largo, laugh at, laugh to scorn, leavings, leech, lees,
      leftovers, linen, load with reproaches, luff, mainstream jazz,
      make fun of, make game of, make merry with, march tempo, material,
      mixed times, musical suite, muslin, napery, national newspaper,
      needle, neighborhood newspaper, news, newspaper,
      newspaper of record, odds and ends, offal, offscourings,
      old clothes, orts, pan, paper, parings, pillory, plain sail,
      play jazz, point at, poke fun at, potsherds, press of sail, presto,
      put on, put one on, rags, ragtime, rail, rail at, raiment, rally,
      rant, raspings, rate, rave against, razz, reduced sail, reef point,
      reefed sail, refuse, relics, remainder, remains, remnant, residue,
      residuum, rest, revile, rhythm-and-blues, rib, ride, ridicule,
      roach, roast, robe, robes, rock, rock-and-roll, rubato, rubbish,
      ruins, rump, sail, sawdust, scene, scenery, scourings, scrap iron,
      scraps, screen, scum, sextuple time, shadow, shards, shavings,
      sheet, side scene, silk, simple time, slack, slag, slop, slops,
      smile at, snicker at, snigger at, special, special edition,
      sportswear, square sail, stage screw, straw, stubble, stuff, stump,
      style, suite, suite of dances, survival, sweepings, swill, swing,
      syncopate, syncopated music, syncopation, syncope, tab, tableau,
      tabloid, tares, tatters, tease, teaser, tempo, tempo rubato,
      textile, textile fabric, texture, the new music, threads,
      three-quarter time, thunder against, time, time pattern, timing,
      tissu, tissue, togs, toilette, tongue-lash, tormentor, trace,
      transformation, transformation scene, trim, triple time, triplet,
      twit, two-four time, vestige, vestment, vesture, vilify,
      vituperate, waltz time, wastage, waste, waste matter, wastepaper,
      wear, wearing apparel, weave, web, weeds, weekly, weekly newspaper,
      weft, wing, wingcut, woodcut, woof, wool, yell at, yelp at