▪ I. nag, n.1
(næg)
Forms: α. 5–7 nagge, 6–8 nagg, 5– nag. β. north. and Sc. 5–7 nage, 6– naig (neːg). γ. neg.
[Of obscure origin: the corresponding Du. neg or negge has not been found earlier than Kilian, who gives ‘Negghe Holl. Fris. Mannus, equus pumilus. Ang. nagghe’.]
1. A small riding horse or pony.
| α c 1400 Destr. Troy 7727 He neyt as a nagge, at his nose thrilles. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 350/1 Nagge, or lytylle beest, bestula, equillus. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon v. 133 He wente to Kyng Yons courte vpon a lytyll nagge. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxii. (Percy Soc.) 157 Thus Correction, with her whyp did dryve The litle nagge. 1535 Act 27 Hen. VIII, c. 6 §1 Horses and nagges of small stature and value. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres v. ii. 143 A pretie light horse, such as be our Northerne nagges. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 56 They have very little horses in these parts to draw the Waggons, like to the galloway nags of Scotland. 1641 Brome Joviall Crew iv. i, I prethee, good Friend, let our Nags be set up. 1709 Prior Let. to Sir T. Hanmer 4 Aug., If at Rischam fair any pretty nagg..presented himself. 1732 Bolingbroke Let. to Swift 18 July, Get on Pegasus..or mount the white nag in the Revelation. 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 232 The unequalled goodness of the English nag. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge i, His nag gone lame in riding out here. 1879 Browning Martin Relph 130 Lend to a King's friend here your nag! |
| fig. a 1764 Lloyd Fam. Ep. Poet Wks. 1774 II. 58 As a plain nag, in homely phrase, I'll..make a trot in easy rhime. |
| β 1464 Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 195 Reynold Morgan on a bay nage of myn. 1471 Paston Lett. III. 12 That the horse may be kept well,..and that Jakys nage have mete i-now also. 1532 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 34 Unto my moder a bay nage. 1572 Satir. Poems Reform. xxxii. 18 With our Naiggis to gane [= go] to Edinburgh. 1648 Hamilton Papers (Camden) 150 That litell nage that I was bringinge for the Prince. a 1774 Fergusson Plainstanes & Cawsey Poems (1845) 47 Whinstanes houkit frae the Craigs May thole the prancin feet o' naigs. 1785 Burns Ep. to J. Lapraik ii. ii, Dealing thro' amang the naigs Their ten-hours bite. 1814 Scott Wav. xxx, The casualties whilk may befall the puir naig while in your honour's service. 1887 Service Life Dr. Duguid 260 Saddling his naig he sallied oot to seek her. |
| γ a 1734 North Lives (1826) I. 288 They [in Northumberland] were a comical sort of people, riding upon negs, as they call their small horses. |
† b. transf. as a term of abuse. Obs.
| 1598 Marston Sco. Villanie B 2 Hence lewd nags away, Goe read each poast,..Then to Priapus gardens. Ibid. E vii b, The witlesse sence Of these odde naggs, whose pates circumference Is fild with froth! 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. x. 10 Yon ribaudred Nagge of Egypt..Hoists Sailes, and flyes. |
2. attrib. and Comb., as nag-bell, nag-colt, nag horse, nag-tail; also nag-tailed adj.
| 1619 in Ferguson & Nanson Munic. Rec. Carlisle (1887) 277 Mr. Maior..shall call for..the horse and nage bells with all expedytion. 1710 Lond. Gaz. No. 4701/4 Stoln or stray'd.., a brown Bay Nag-Colt. 1769 Stratford Jubilee I. i. 8 With relays of your nag-tailed bays. 1791 Gilpin Forest Scenery ii. 256 The short dock everywhere disappeared{ddd}The nag-tail however still continued in use. Ibid., The nag-tail is still seen in all genteel carriages. 1816 Sporting Mag. XLVIII. 239 A fall of 50l. per cent. has taken place in nag and hack horses. |
▪ II. nag, n.2
occas. variant of knag n.1
| a 1775 Jock o' the Side viii. in Child Ballads III. 481 They cut a tree with fifty nags [v.r. snags] upo' each side For to clim Newcastle wall. |
▪ III. nag, n.3
(næg)
[f. next.]
The act of nagging; irritating language.
| 1894 Westm. Gaz. 26 Nov. 2/1 Its correspondent..quotes in support a counter piece of nag in some German Standard. 1895 Daily News 14 Mar. 5/2 There is not a trace of ‘nag’ in their rejoinders. 1971 J. Gardner Every Night's a Bullfight ix. 261 They had covered all their separate problems, yet the nag in Douglas's mind left him edgy about the box office situation. Ibid. x. 293 The added knowledge served to compound his growing nag of worry. |
▪ IV. nag, v.
(næg)
Also nagg, knag, gnag.
[Orig. a dialect word, and prob. of Scand. origin: cf. Norw. and Sw. nagga (obs. Da. nagge) to gnaw, bite, nibble; to vex, irritate; to be painful (Færöese nagga to rub; obs. Icel. nagga, ? to complain), with the related n. nagg (Da. nag) gnawing, remorse, rancour, pain, etc.
A LG. naggen in the sense ‘to irritate, provoke, etc.’ is also recorded in the 15th c. (in Teuthonista), and appears (along with gnaggen) to be still in use. In some northern Eng. dialects a variant naig (knaig, gnaig), recorded from 1781 onwards, occurs in the same senses as nag.]
1. dial. a. trans. and intr. To gnaw, to nibble.
| 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Nag, to gnaw at anything hard. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. s.v., The child likes to gnag at a crust. 1869 Lonsdale Gloss., Nag, to natter or nibble as a mouse. 1876 Mid-Yorksh. Gloss. s.v., Give t' dog a bone to nag. |
b. intr. To keep up a dull gnawing pain; to ache persistently.
| 1836 [see nagging ppl. a. 1]. 1879 [see 4]. 1886 Cheshire Gloss. s.v., ‘How's your face, now?’ ‘Well, it nags a bit’. |
2. a. To be persistently worrying or irritating by continued fault-finding, scolding, or urging.
| 1828 Craven Gloss., Knag, to wrangle, to quarrel, to raise peevish objections. 1859 B. Jerrold Life Jerrold 216 The servant writes..to know whether Mrs. Squaw nags. 1863 Sat. Rev. 3 Oct., Man was formed to bully, as woman was formed to nag. 1880 Spurgeon Ploughm. Pict. 112 If they are always nagging and grumbling they will lose their hold of their children. |
b. Const. at a person, etc.
| 1857 Sir F. Palgrave Norm. & Eng. II. 706 He was constantly..knagging at Richard's power and prosperity. 1865 Trollope Belton Est. xvii. 203 It's no good my mother nagging at me. 1894 Birrell Ess. xviii. 208 Authors and critics cannot help nagging at one another. |
3. a. trans. To assail or annoy (a person) with persistent fault-finding or provocation; to irritate with continuous urging to something. Also transf. and fig.
| 1840 Spurdens Suppl. Forby s.v., They tew mawthers are ollost nagging one another. 1849 Alb. Smith Pottleton Legacy xxii, Not having anybody to abuse directly, they began to knag their brother. 1861 Dixon Bacon x. §9 When she again goes home to Westwood Park she nags and frets Sir John. 1874 L. Carr Jud. Gwynne I. iii. 75 In spite of his heroic stolidity and equanimity even when being nagged to desperation. 1921 Challenge 28 Oct. 375/1 He nags his brain into a state of consuming doubt, but dares not arrive at any conclusion. 1958 L. Durrell Balthazar viii. 172 As I examined him a phone started to nag somewhere. 1960 Times 20 June 4/2 Laver, a fighter still nagged by his shoulder. 1963 Times 4 Mar. 5/1 Barrington was a little out of sorts with himself, and after Yuile..had tied him down by curling the ball into the wind, Reid nagged him out. 1969 Listener 6 Mar. 324/1, I am told that R. P. Blackmur used to give a lecture on Jane Austen in which he explored her work in terms of the verb ‘to nag’ (‘she nags out her plots’). |
b. To wear out by nagging.
| 1870 Verney L. Lisle xxvii, To have a tongue to nagg folk's lives out. |
4. Used with repetition of the stem-syllable to express the persistency of the action.
| 1860 Thackeray Lovel iii. 88 Is it pleasing to..have your wife nagnagging you because she has not been invited..? 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. s.v., The tuth-ache..kep' nag, nag, naggin'..till about four o'clock. |