rags

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
rag1 /rag/

▶noun

• 1 a piece of old cloth, especially one torn from a larger piece.

  ■ (rags) old or tattered clothes.

• 2 (rags) the remnants of something.

• 3 informal a low-quality newspaper.

▶verb give a decorative effect to by applying paint with a rag.

– phrases
on the rag informal, chiefly N. Amer. menstruating.
lose one's rag Brit. informal lose one's temper.

– origin ME: prob. a back-form. from ragged or raggy.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
rag2 /rag/

▶noun Brit.

• 1 a programme of entertainments organized by students to raise money for charity.

• 2 informal, dated a prank.

▶verb (rags, ragging, ragged)

• 1 make fun of boisterously.

• 2 rebuke severely.

  ■ (rag on) N. Amer. informal complain about continually.

– origin C18: of unknown origin.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
rag3 /rag/

▶noun

• 1 a large coarse roofing slate.

• 2 (also ragstone) Brit. a hard coarse sedimentary rock that can be broken into thick slabs.

– origin ME: of unknown origin; later assoc. with rag1.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
rag4 /rag/

▶noun a ragtime composition or tune.

– origin C19: perh. from ragged; cf. ragtime.