tag-rag

Meanings

nountag-rag pl (plural only)

alsoarchaicfigurativelyobsoletepluralplural onlyA torn piece of an object which hangs down.
1 more example
Of his sentences perhaps not more than nine-tenths stand straight on their legs; the remainder are quite angular attitudes, buttressed-up by props (of parentheses and dashes), and ever with this or the other tagrag hanging from them; a few even sprawl-out helplessly on all sides, quite broken-backed and dismembered.
1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Characteristics”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 21
derogatoryobsoletepluralplural onlyNow only in tag-rag and bobtail: the lowest class of people; commoners collectively; the rabble.
If the tag-rag people did not clap him and hiss him, I am no true man.
1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]

Also see

From tag + rag. See tag (“an end”).

Cite this entry

APA

tag-rag. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tag-rag

MLA

“tag-rag.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tag-rag. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tag-rag,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tag-rag.

Source: tag-rag on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.