scrag
Americannoun
-
a lean or scrawny person or animal.
-
the lean end of a neck of veal or mutton.
-
Slang. the neck of a human being.
verb (used with object)
-
Slang. to wring the neck of; hang; garrote.
-
Metallurgy. to test (spring steel) by bending.
noun
-
a thin or scrawny person or animal
-
the lean end of a neck of veal or mutton
-
informal the neck of a human being
verb
Etymology
Origin of scrag
First recorded in 1535–45; obscurely akin to crag 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
After all, eggs hatched at 40 plus, like mine, represent the scrag end of the market.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 18, 2014
The expressionist body is a scrag of mutton with big extremities, very unlike the prosperous Renaissance nudes that, however mutated, survived in Picasso and Matisse.
From Time Magazine Archive
Take a scrag or knuckle of veal, slices of undressed gammon of bacon, onions, mace, and simmer them in a small quantity of water, till it is very strong.
From The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families by Mary Eaton
Soak a neck of mutton in water for an hour, cut off the scrag, and put it into a stewpot, with two quarts of water.
From The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families by Mary Eaton
And the ass, for its part, responded to the caress by rubbing its head against the boy's breast and by most energetically twitching its scrag of a tail.
From The Aztec Treasure-House by Thomas A. (Thomas Allibone) Janvier
Centre Emma Orr scragged Dow with a stretching cover tackle as the England wing bore down on the line after a charge down.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2025
Vincent Koch secured a turnover after Itoje was scragged at the base to end another promising attack.
From BBC ● Nov. 16, 2024
Peter Nelson was almost to the tryline when he was scragged by Beauden Barrett.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 2, 2019
Petri takes it but he’s scragged and knocks on on halfway.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 11, 2015
His glance roved from the set face of the cowpuncher and through the scragged branches of the tree.
From The Rangeland Avenger by Max Brand
The best ones have been breathtaking, beginning with the 5-3 scragging of Chelsea on New Year’s Day 2015, when a Spurs team with five Bale-money hang-overs in the squad ran the champions-in-waiting into the ground.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 27, 2019
But still De Gea came back for more, bristling like a lovable cartoon puppy, the hardest kid in chess club, seeming to grow in conviction with every scragging.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 19, 2013
The prop Davit Zirakashvili was in the sin bin then after scragging Richard Wigglesworth from a blatantly offside position.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 9, 2010
For this she was put to scragging, second-picking the bushes that had a few inferior puffs left on the twigs by swifter hands than hers.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
And then to rampage they begin; Sweet William is scragging a rose; Sweet-pea in a neighborly way, Is pulling young marigold's nose!
From Donahoe's Magazine, Vol. XV, No. 4, April, 1886 Volume 15 (January 1886 - July 1886) by Various
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
