dag
1 Americannoun
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one of a series of decorative scallops or foliations along the edge of a garment, cloth, etc.
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Scot. daglock.
verb (used with object)
noun
abbreviation
noun
noun
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short for daglock
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informal to hurry up
verb
noun
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a character; eccentric
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a person who is untidily dressed
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a person with a good sense of humour
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of dag1
1350–1400; Middle English dagge < ?; compare Old French dague dagger
Origin of dag2
First recorded in 1885–90; origin uncertain
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:
The worker stabbed the loamy soil with a hoe dag, dropped in a delicate sequoia seedling and tamped the dirt tight around it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2023
I’m ‘a get a scholarship to King’s College/ I prob’ly shouldn’t brag, but dag/ I amaze and astonish.”
From Washington Post ● Jan. 29, 2016
Peter Ustinov, playing an unmarried remittance man who has to beat the girls off with a waddy, makes a comical old dag.
From Time Magazine Archive
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“I don’t dwell on it too much because I’m not in a negative position. But you do say, ‘Well, dag, man, I should have done this or that.’
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
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The old man rose, with a: "Well, I suppose we mun ma'e another dag at it," and the men left the house.
From The White Peacock by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
Of more than 200 films shown during the 10-day festival, 22 will compete for the coveted Golden Bear, which was won last year by the drama "Dreams" from Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud.
From Barron's ● Feb. 10, 2026
Another who took on the rumour, posting in English, was Turkish-born South African Mehmet Vefa Dag, who runs the Truth and Solidarity Movement – a small political organisation in South Africa.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2025
North Dakota Gov. Dag Borgheim also launched his presidential campaign this week.
From Slate ● Jun. 10, 2023
As the second secretary-general of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld, understood that.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 20, 2022
Dag, I’m thinking, it wasn’t like Char was ripping out the sink.
From "The Skin I'm In" by Sharon G. Flake
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Today he wore flashing cloth-of-silver, with dagged sleeves so long the ends of them pooled on the floor.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
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Her long dagged sleeves showed a lining of gold satin.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
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I never dagged my petticoats in my life, and I've no opinion o' that sort o' religion.'
From Scenes of Clerical Life by George Eliot
Over the hawberk is a garment, perhaps of leather with a dagged skirt-edge, and over this again is a sleeveless gambeson or pourpoint of leather or quilted work, studded and enriched.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 6 "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of" by Various
These welts were "embroidered, indented, waved, furred, chisel-punched, dagged," as well as turreted.
From Two Centuries of Costume in America, Volume 1 (1620-1820) by Alice Morse Earle
He may not be able to put it in words, but easterly haars, chilling rimes, drizzling mists, dagging fogs, and soddening rains speak eloquently to him of the meaning of climate.
From Meteorology or Weather Explained by J. G. M'Pherson
Definitions 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.