Adjacent Words

Fag definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FAG, v.t. To beat. [Not in use.]
FAG, n. A slave; one who works hard. [Not in use.]
FAG, v.i. [Heb. to fail, to languish.]
To become weary; to fail in strength; to be faint with weariness.
The Italian began to fag.
[A vulgar word.]
FAG, n. A knot in cloth. [Not in use.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: offensive term for an openly homosexual man [syn: fagot, faggot, fag, fairy, nance, pansy, queen, queer, poof, poove, pouf]
2: finely ground tobacco wrapped in paper; for smoking [syn: cigarette, cigaret, coffin nail, butt, fag] v
1: act as a servant for older boys, in British public schools
2: work hard; "She was digging away at her math homework"; "Lexicographers drudge all day long" [syn: labor, labour, toil, fag, travail, grind, drudge, dig, moil]
3: exhaust or get tired through overuse or great strain or stress; "We wore ourselves out on this hike" [syn: tire, wear upon, tire out, wear, weary, jade, wear out, outwear, wear down, fag out, fag, fatigue] [ant: freshen, refresh, refreshen]

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (fagged; fagging) Etymology: perhaps from obsolete fag to droop, from fag fag end Date: 1772 intransitive verb to work hard ; toil transitive verb to tire by strenuous activity ; exhaust <fagged by the strenuous climb> Synonyms: see tire II. noun Date: 1780 1. chiefly British toil, drudgery 2. drudge 1 III. noun Etymology: probably short for faggot Date: 1785 an English public-school boy who acts as servant to an older schoolmate IV. intransitive verb Date: 1806 to serve as a fag especially in an English public school <fagging for older boys during his first year> V. noun Etymology: fag end Date: circa 1888 cigarette VI. noun Date: 1921 usually disparaging faggot • faggy adjective, usually disparaging

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. & v. --n. 1 esp. Brit. colloq. a piece of drudgery; a wearisome or unwelcome task. 2 sl. a cigarette. 3 Brit. (at public schools) a junior pupil who runs errands for a senior. --v. (fagged, fagging) 1 a tr. (often foll. by out) tire out; exhaust. b intr. toil. 2 intr. Brit. (in public schools) act as a fag. 3 tr. Naut. (often foll. by out) fray (the end of a rope etc.). Phrases and idioms: fag-end sl. 1 Brit. a cigarette-end. 2 an inferior or useless remnant. Etymology: orig. unkn.: cf. FLAG(1) 2. n. US sl. often offens. a male homosexual. Etymology: abbr. of FAGGOT

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Fag Fag, v. t. 1. To tire by labor; to exhaust; as, he was almost fagged out. 2. Anything that fatigues. [R.] It is such a fag, I came back tired to death. --Miss Austen. Brain fag. (Med.) See Cerebropathy.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Fag Fagn. A knot or coarse part in cloth. [Obs.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Fag Fag, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Fagged; p. pr. & vb. n. Fagging.] [Cf. LG. fakk wearied, weary, vaak slumber, drowsiness, OFries. fai, equiv. to f[=a]ch devoted to death, OS. f?gi, OHG. feigi, G. feig, feige, cowardly, Icel. feigr fated to die, AS. f?ge, Scot. faik, to fail, stop, lower the price; or perh. the same word as E. flag to droop.] 1. To become weary; to tire. Creighton withheld his force till the Italian began to fag. --G. Mackenzie. 2. To labor to wearness; to work hard; to drudge. Read, fag, and subdue this chapter. --Coleridge. 3. To act as a fag, or perform menial services or drudgery, for another, as in some English schools. To fag out, to become untwisted or frayed, as the end of a rope, or the edge of canvas.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(fags) 1. A fag is a cigarette. (mainly BRIT INFORMAL) N-COUNT 2. A fag is a homosexual. (mainly AM INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE) N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. n. 1. Droop, sink, flag, grow weary, become fatigued, be tired. 2. Drudge, toil, work to weariness. 3. Be a fag, play the fag, do menial service. II. v. a. 1. Make a fag of, compel to serve or drudge. 2. Tire, weary, fatigue, jade, use up, tire out, exhaust. III. n. [Especially applied in England to a schoolboy who does menial service for another.] Drudge, menial, slave.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

To beat. Fag the bloss; beat the wench; Cant. A fag also means a boy of an inferior form or class, who acts as a servant to one of a superior, who is said to fag him, he is my fag; whence, perhaps, fagged out, for jaded or tired. To stand a good fag; not to be soon tired.

Moby Thesaurus

auntie, beast of burden, beat, bi-guy, bisexual, bugger, bull dyke, burden, burn out, busy, butch, butt, carton of cigarettes, catamite, chicken, cig, cigarette, cigarette butt, cigarette case, debilitate, deck of cigarettes, dig, dirty work, do in, do up, donkeywork, drive, drudge, drudgery, dyke, employment, enervate, exhaust, fag out, faggot, fairy, fatigue, femme, flag, flit, frazzle, fricatrice, fruit, galley slave, greasy grind, grind, grub, gunsel, hack, hammer, hammer away, handiwork, handwork, harass, homo, homophile, homosexual, homosexualist, industry, invert, jade, keep busy, knock out, knock up, labor, lesbian, lick, lick of work, manual labor, moil, nance, oppress, outwear, overdrive, overfatigue, overstrain, overtask, overtax, overtire, overweary, overwork, pansy, pathic, peg, peg away, plod, plodder, plug, plug along, plug away, poop, poop out, pound away, prostrate, punk, queen, queer, rat race, sapphist, scut work, slave, slavery, slog, slogger, smoke, snipe, spadework, stroke, stroke of work, stub, sweat, swot, task, tax, tire, tire out, tire to death, tiresome work, toil, travail, treadmill, tribade, tucker, use up, wade through, weaken, wear, wear down, wear on, wear out, weary, wilt, wind, work, work away, workhorse