sag

plural sags · alternative dialectal seg · alternative dialectal segg · alternative obsolete sack

1. countableuncountableThe state of sinking or bending; a droop.
2. countableuncountableA depression or dip in anything.
3. countableuncountableA place where the surface of the earth, a mountain range, a ridge, etc., sinks or droops.

   Gunsight Peak north of the sag marks the southern end of the Malad Range that extends into Idaho. Complexly faulted Cambrian and Ordovician shelf sedimentary rocks are present[…]

   2016 March 10, William T. Parry, Geology of Utah's Mountains, Peaks, and Plateaus: Including descriptions of cliffs, valleys, and climate history, FriesenPress, →ISBN

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   a mass of igneous rock […] shown as a semicircular area of shonkinite exposed in the west wall of the sag. From the valley below, it appears as a dark cliff, perhaps 100 feet in height and a few hundred yards long.

   1905, Louis Valentine Pirsson, Petrography and Geology of the Igneous Rocks of the Highwood ..., page 43

4. countableuncountableThe difference in elevation of a wire, cable, chain or rope suspended between two consecutive points.
5. countableuncountableThe difference in height or depth between the vertex and the rim of a curved surface, specifically used for optical elements such as a mirror or lens.
6. countableuncountableA region or spot where the skin has lost some of its elasticity and droops or hangs down.
7. countableuncountableA person with sagging skin.

   She was bossy and proud, a dreadful sag of skin and bones, and she was a devilish hard worker.

   1950, Dorothy M. Johnson, A Man Called Horse; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 173

present singular third person sags · participle present sagging · participle past sagged · past sagged · alternative dialectal seg · alternative dialectal segg · alternative obsolete sack

1. To sink, in the middle, by its weight or under applied pressure, below a horizontal line or plane.

   The floor of a room sags.

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   A line or cable supported by its ends sags, even if it is tightly drawn.

   Her once firm bosom began to sag in her thirties.

   1. broadlyTo lean, give way, or settle from a vertical position.

      The door sags on its hinges.

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      A building may sag one way or another.

      The weather became more and more threatening; the ship sagged to the leeward more than she ought.

      1890, Great Britain. High Court of Justice. Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division, The Law Reports. Probate Division in the Courts of Probate and Divorce: In the Admiralty and Ecclesiastical Courts, and in the Privy Council, from Michaelmas Sittings, 1875, to 1890 (volume 5)

   2. figurativelyTo lose firmness, elasticity, vigor, or a thriving state; to sink; to droop; to flag; to bend; to yield, as the mind or spirits, under the pressure of care, trouble, doubt, or the like; to be unsettled or unbalanced.

      The mind I sway by, and the heart I bear, / Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear.

      c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]

2. intransitivee.g.; movie; e.g.; movieTo fail to sustain interest; to be boring.

   The movie really sags after the chase scene.

3. To loiter in walking; to idle along; to drag or droop heavily.

   When Handy had gone, Bert Barricue sagged in, unwashed, unshaven. He sat down stiffly.

   1949, Dorothy M. Johnson, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 106

4. transitiveTo cause to bend or give way; to load.
5. Senses relating to clothing
   1. informaltransitiveTo wear one's trousers, shorts, etc., so that their top is well below the waist.

      He sags his pants real low.

   2. informalintransitiveusuallyshortsTo be worn so that the top is well below the waist.

      His pants were sagging low.

   3. CanadainformalTo pull down someone else's pants as a prank.

plural sags

1. alternativeuncountableusuallyAlternative form of saag.

   The dal tarka (£5) is made from whole yellow split peas, while sag aloo (£5) brings potatoes in a rich and oily spinach puree.

   2003, Charles Campion, The Rough Guide to London Restaurants, page 173

1. abbreviationacronymAcronym of Screen Actors Guild.

1. abbreviationinitialismon a letterInitialism of Saint Anthony guide.

plural SAGs

1. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of straight-acting gay.

plural Sags

1. abbreviationclippinginformalastrologyClipping of Sagittarius.

   For example, a Sag girl living on a farm could pick and chop cotton better than her brothers.

   1996, Thelma Balfour, Black Sun Signs: An African-American Guide to the Zodiac, page 180

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   If you have a Sag cat, it's going to be hard keeping it inside all the time - or even half the time. If you've got an animal that traditionally stays in cages, don't expect to have a real happy enclosed Sagittarian critter.

   1998, Diana Nilsen, Your Pet's Horoscope, page 75

   Synonyms: Saggie, Saggy

1. Alternative letter-case form of SAG (“Screen Actors Guild”).

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   The use of AI in the production of film and television – either to write scripts, generate actors’ likenesses, or cut corners in paying creative work, has been a major point of contention in negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and Sag and the Writers Guild of America (WGA).

   2023 July 26, Adrian Horton, “Netflix lists AI job worth $900,000 amid twin Hollywood strikes”, in The Guardian, →ISSN