rag-tag, n. (a.)
(ˈrægtæg)
[f. rag n.1 + tag. The older expression was tag and rag (very common in 16–17th c.).]
A. n.
1. a. collect. The ragged disreputable portion of the community; the raff or rabble. b. One of the individuals forming this class.
| 1879 Marg. Lonsdale Sister Dora viii. (1880) 199 She visited all classes—from the respectable, down to what she called the ‘ragtags’ of the town. |
2. rag-tag (or rag, tag) and bob-tail = 1 a. Also
transf.; sometimes
= ‘the whole lot’.
| 1820 Blackw. Mag. VII. 318 This Journal cuts up the rag⁓tag and bobtail of the faction. 1882 H. Seebohm Siberia in Asia 100 Ragtag-and-bobtail of the great Arctic army. 1887 T. A. Trollope What I remember II. vi. 95 He shall have them all, rag, tag, and bobtail. |
| attrib. 1882 F. M. Crawford Mr. Isaacs 3 Regular rag⁓tag-and-bobtail cut-throat moss-troopers. |
B. Passing into
adj. Of form or appearance: ragged, raggle-taggle; disreputable; disorderly, unorganized, straggling.
a. Of persons, etc.
| 1883 Glasgow Weekly Herald 23 Apr. 8/4 These are the shapes sold by certain rag-tag drapers at 3d. 1884 American VIII. 46 We are hemmed in by..rag-tag Arabs. 1969 Telegraph (Brisbane) 19 Aug. 19/4 In unison a ragtag band of motorcyclists drank a toast. 1978 S. Brill Teamsters ix. 322 These were by and large a ragtag group of overaged ne'er-do-wells. |
b. Of things.
| 1922 Blunden Shepherd (ed. 2) 30 When on the green the rag-tag game had stopd. 1969 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. XCI. facing p. 4946 (Advt.), Such rag-tag, sometimes illegible copies probably stay in your files..permanently. 1977 Rolling Stone 5 May 11/1 The audience was evenly divided between under-18s in ragtag street wear and those first-generation rock fans now moving into Sisley jeans affluence. |