Meanings
plural red rags
- figurativelySomething that will enrage another particular person.
1 more example
Collins dictionaries has announced that the inclusion of 2,000 new words in its forthcoming new edition means that some of the dustier corners of its lexicon will have to be swept into the semantic dustbin. Farewell embranglement, recrement, fusby and numerous others. This will be a red rag to books bloggers everywhere.
2008 September 24, Lindesay Irvine, “Collins, we're lost for words: let's call your bluff”, in guardian.co.uk - derogatoryobsoleteslangA person's tongue.
For well I know by your glib tongue, / To what fine country you belong, / And if your red rag did not shew it, / By your queer fancies I should know it.
1869, William Combe, Thomas Rolandson, The Three Tours of Doctor Syntax, page 194
Origin
Ellipsis of red rag to a bull.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish punainen vaate
- punainen vaatesomething that will enrage another particular person
French chiffon rouge
- chiffon rougesomething that will enrage another particular person
German rotes Tuch
- rotes Tuchsomething that will enrage another particular person
Hungarian vörös posztó
- vörös posztósomething that will enrage another particular person
Italian alquanto provocatorio, provocazione
- alquanto provocatoriosomething that will enrage another particular person
- provocazionesomething that will enrage another particular person
Polish czerwona płachta
- czerwona płachtasomething that will enrage another particular person
Cite this entry
red rag. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/red%20rag
“red rag.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/red%20rag. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “red rag,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/red%20rag.
Source: red rag on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.