▪ I. fag, n.1
(fæg)
[f. the vb.]
1. That which causes weariness; hard work, toil, drudgery, fatigue. colloq.
| 1780 F. Burney Diary & Lett. 13 Apr., This was my fag till after tea. 1798 Nelson Lett. (1814) II. 233 As no fleet has more fag than this, nothing but the..greatest attention can keep them healthy. 1847 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 8 Not worth the fag of going and coming. 1860 Dixon Hist. Bacon x. §19 The fag and contest of the world. |
2. a. In English public schools, a junior who performs certain duties for a senior. Also transf. a drudge.
| 1785 R. Cumberland Observer xcv. §3, I had the character at school of being the very best fag that ever came into it. 1811 L. M. Hawkins C'tess & Gertr. I. 50 She..finds herself in the situation of ‘a fag’ at our public schools. 1841 Macaulay W. Hastings Ess. (1851) 597 He [Hastings] hired Impey with a tart or a ball to act as fag. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. viii, The..night-fags had left duty. |
| transf. 1813 P. Hawker Diary 7 Jan. (1893) I. 66 Mr. Macintosh..a good fag. 1827 Sporting Mag. May 12/2 Though by no means good fags, a French chasseur will be in the field before daylight. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 115 William Tag, Thalia's most industrious fag. 1855 Thackeray Newcomes I. 171 The diminutive fag of the studio. |
b. Cricket. A fieldsman. Obs.
| 1840 Sporting Mag. Aug. 332 Great Jupiter [shall be] long fag, because he can shy The ball like a thunder-bolt straight through the sky. 1897 W. J. Ford in K. S. Ranjitsinhji Jubilee Bk. Cricket ix. 341 The ‘fags’ in the out-field have their hands full indeed. |
3. attrib. as fag-day, fag-partner (cf. fagging partner under fagging ppl. a.).
| 1828 Aird in Blackw. Mag. Dec. 713/1 A fag partner at whist when a better fourth hand is wanting. 1885 Pall Mall G. 27 May 6/1 Far more exhausting than a fag day of five hours at Rugby. |
▪ II. † fag, n.2 Obs. exc. in Comb. and dial.
(fæg)
[See fag v.]
1. Something that hangs loose; a flap. In quot. attrib. See also fag-end.
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans B j a, The federis at the wynge next the body be calde the flagg or the fagg federis. |
2. = fag-end in various senses.
| c 1580 J. Chappell Will in Noake Worcestershire Relics (1877) 34 To his sister-in-law he [a clothier] leaves a ‘fagg’ to make her a petticoat..to Roger Massye..a white fagg to make him a coat. a 1626 Middleton Changeling iii. iii, To finish (as it were) and make the fagg Of all the Revels. 1659 Fuller App. Inj. Innoc. i. vi. 5, I have..presented the whole Cloath of his Book..Length and Breadth, and List and Fag and all. 1775 Ash, Fag..the fringe at the end of a rope. |
3. dial. a. An odd strip of land. b. Odds and ends of pasture-grass.
| 1880 Times 17 Sept. 8/5 The fags along the sides of the river are being irretrievably damaged. 1884 Lawson Upton Gloss., Fag, generally Old Fag, tufts of last year's grass not eaten down. |
▪ III. fag, n.3
(fæg)
[Etymology unknown; perh. senses 1 and 2 do not belong to the same word.]
1. A ‘knot’ in cloth.
| 1464 Act. 4 Edw. IV, c. i, En cas que ascune autiel diversite ou Rawe, Skawe, cokell ou fagge, aveigne destre en ascun part des ditz draps. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Fag..a knot in cloth. |
2. A parasitic insect which infects sheep; a sheep-tick; hence a disease of sheep. Also, sheep-fag. dial. attrib. fag-water (see quot.).
| 1789 Projects in Ann. Reg. 71 Hippobosca ovina, called in Lincolnshire sheep faggs. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Sheep-fag, a parasitic insect that infests the wool of sheep. 1886 S.W. Linc. Gloss., Fag-water, water mixed with arsenic and soft-soap in which sheep are dipped to kill the ticks. |
▪ IV. fag, n.4 slang.
(fæg)
[Abbreviation of fag-end. (Cf. fag n.2 2.)]
a. The fag-end of a cigarette. b. A cheap cigarette. c. Any cigarette (the current use). Also attrib., as fag card, a cigarette card; fag hag (see quot. 1945).
| 1888 Sat. Rev. 30 June 786/2 They..burn their throats with the abominable ‘fag’, with its acrid paper and vile tobacco. 1893 Pick-me-up 14 Oct. 45/2 Stimulants he calls ‘booze’ and a cigarette a ‘fag’. 1898 Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v., Here [sc. at Redruth] we are often asked by youngsters to ‘chuck’ them ‘a fag’—and whole cheap cigarettes are also often called fags. 1908 Church Times 7 Feb. 173/1 He gathered into a leather pouch the remains of his cigarettes, and left the room. ‘What does he do with all those fags?’ asked Conway. 1921 Galsworthy To Let iii. viii. 284 The fag of Fleur's cigarette..fell on the grass. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 70 Smoking a chewed fagbutt. 1928 Galsworthy Swan Song iv. 24 Cinemas, fags, and football matches—there would be no real revolution while they were on hand. 1942 C. Barrett On Wallaby v. 97 Cobbers of the men in detention had hit upon an ingenious method of smuggling fags to them. 1945 L. Shelly Jive Talk Dict. 24/1 Fag hag, girl chain smoker. 1959 W. Golding Free Fall ii. 49 There was the business of the fagcards. We all collected them. |
▪ V. fag, n.5 U.S. slang.
(fæg)
[Abbreviation of faggot n. 6 b.]
= faggot n. 6 b.
| 1923 N. Anderson Hobo vii. 103 Fairies or Fags are men or boys who exploit sex for profit. 1931 ‘D. Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route 205 Fagot or fag, a road kid with homosexual tendencies. 1932 Hemingway Death in Afternoon 298 Maricón, a sodomite, nance, queen, fairy, fag, etc... Interested parties..are continually proving that Leonardo da Vinci, Shakespeare, etc., were fags. 1939 R. Chandler Big Sleep xii. 90 A stealthy nastiness, like a fag party. 1957 J. Kerouac On Road (1958) iii. v. 206 The car belonged to a tall, thin fag. 1964 ‘L. Egan’ My Name is Death v. 49 You can't tell the fags from outside looks. |
Retain slang label before etym, but restrict U.S. label to a. Add: b. fag hag orig. U.S., a heterosexual woman who prefers or seeks out the company of homosexual men. Usu. derog.
| 1969 Screw 18 Aug. 16/1 I'd hazard a guess that you're simply a Faggot's Moll, Fag hag, or Fruit Fly... A girl who enjoys the company and attention of males-who-go-to-bed-with-males is generally quite hung up about sex. 1972 B. Rodgers Queens' Vernacular 78 Fag-hags fall into no single category: some are plain janes who prefer the honest affection of homoerotic boy friends. 1978 J. Krantz Scruples vii. 206 Was she a fag hag, condemned to feel emotion only for men who didn't want women? 1983 E. Pizzey Watershed iii. xlii. 334 If they're single, they're gay. I don't fancy being a fag hag, though plenty of my friends do it. 1993 Guardian 22 July ii. 14/5 The fag hag of yore could best be described as a woman who took on the more extreme mannerisms of gay men, such as campness and theatricality—a straight woman masquerading as a drag queen. |
▪ VI. fag, v.1
(fæg)
[Of obscure etymology; the common view that it is a corruption of flag v. would satisfactorily account for the sense; see quot. 1486 in fag n.2 1. Cf. also faik v.3]
† 1. intr. To flag, droop, decline (lit. and fig.); to fall off, swerve from, into. Obs. exc. dial.
| 1530 Palsgr. 543/1, I fagge from the trouthe (Lydgate): this terme is nat in our comen use. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 1017/2 His handes fagged downward. 1624 Bp. Hall True Peace-maker 24 Woe be to those partiall Iudges..the girdle of whose equitie faggs downe on that side where the purse hangs. 1639 Fuller Holy War 202 Elective States..often fagge aside into schismes and factions. 1708–11 G. Mackenzie Lives (1722) III. 292 The Italian attacked him with such..Eagerness, that he began to fag, having overacted himself. 1786 Harvest Rig in R. Chambers Pop. Poems Scot. (1862) 44 They never fag. 1878 Cumbrld. Gloss., Fag..to hang back. |
2. To do something that wearies one; to work hard; to labour, strain, toil.
| 1772 F. Burney Early Diary Apr., All day I am fagging at business. 1794 Ld. Spencer in Ld. Auckland's Corr. III. 299 Arthur Paget, on whose account I am now fagging to Berlin. 1829 Scott Jrnl. 19 Mar., I fagged at my review on Ancient Scottish History. 1859 Dickens T. Two Cities ii. viii, The Marquis in his travelling carriage..fagged up a steep hill. 1862 Sat. Rev. 8 Feb. 144 Like giving up a problem instead of fagging on till it is solved. 1884 Lawson Upton Gloss., Fag..to pull hard as at a rope. |
3. trans. To make (one) fatigued; to tire, weary. Said of both persons and things.
| 1826 Scott Jrnl. 9 Apr., I worked at..correcting manuscript, which fags me excessively. 1836 E. Howard R. Reefer xxii, He would fag me desperately at cricket. 1858 Baroness Bunsen in Hare Life II. iv. 235 Correcting the vast number of sheets that have come..has fagged him too much. 1879 Dixon Brit. Cyprus xxvii. 269 No one cares to fag himself with talk. |
4. In Public School phraseology. a. intr. To be a fag, to act as a fag; to perform certain services for another. to fag out: to go as fag, esp. in cricket, to field.
| 1806 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (ed. 3) iii. xv. 48 Fagging for a niggardly glutton. 1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown i. viii, I won't fag except for the sixth. 1860 Thackeray Round. Papers, On a Joke 89 The ground where you had to fag out on holidays. 1881 Macm. Mag. XLIII. 288/2 They must..fag out at cricket. |
b. trans. To make a fag of; to compel to do certain offices.
| 1824 Southey in C. Southey Life & Corr. I. 138 He was not high enough in the school to fag me. 1845 Alb. Smith Fort. Scatterg. Fam. xvi. (1887) 53 He was fagged in the schoolroom during the hours that he was at the mercy of his superior fellows. 1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown i. viii, What right have the fifth-form boys to fag us? 1889 A. R. Hope in Boy's Own Paper 699/2 He [the prefect] used to fag me to blow the chapel organ for him. |
5. Naut. (See quots.) Cf. fag n.2
| 1841 Dana Seaman's Manual 104 A rope is fagged when the end is untwisted. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 285 Fag out..to wear out the end of a rope or end of canvas. |
6. slang. a. To beat. Obs. [? A distinct word; cf. feague.]
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Fag, to Beat. 1730–6 in Bailey (folio). 1847–78 in Halliwell. |
b. To smoke; to supply with a cigarette. Cf. fag n.4 U.S. slang.
| 1926 Maines & Grant Wise-Crack Dict. 8/1 Fag me, give me a cigarette. 1940 Amer. Speech XV. 335/2 To smoke is..to fag. 1954 W. Faulkner Fable (1955) 324 ‘Fag me again.’ The corporal gave him another cigarette. |
▪ VII. fag, v.2 dial.
(fæg)
Also vag.
1. trans. To cut corn with a sickle and a hooked stick; = bag v.2
| 1841 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. II. i. 120 Six ridges..being fagged or cut at the ground. 1854 Ibid. XV. i. 213 Some farmers fag a large quantity of barley. 1875 in Parish Sussex Gloss. s.v. 1888 Berksh. Gloss. s.v. Vag, ‘When the straa be long, vaggin' wuts be better'n mawin' on um.’ |
2. Comb., as fag-hook = fagging-hook.
| 1875 Parish Sussex Gloss., Fag-hook. |
Hence ˈfagging vbl. n.2 Also attrib., as fagging-hook, fag-stick.
| 1837 Outl. Flemish Husb. in Brit. Husbandry (1840) III. ii. iii. 17 Those who are accustomed to the method of fagging in use in Middlesex, Surrey,..will readily see that this scythe is only an improved fagging hook, allowing the reaper to stand upright at his work. 1844 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. V. i. 28 Little fagging or bagging..is performed except in the vicinity of the metropolis. 1854 Ibid. XV. i. 213 The straw is cut close to the ground with a fagging hook. 1881 Oxford Gloss. Supp. s.v., A hooked stick, called a faggin' stick. 1942 Archit. Rev. XCI. 51/1 Scythes, slash-hooks, fagging-hooks, hay-knives or turnip-knives. 1958 Times 16 Aug. 7/6 Fagging-hook, frostbeck, hack-hook..are some of the variations on a single agricultural theme. |