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fag

1
[ fag ]
/ fæg /
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usage alert about fag

The terms fag and faggot are both used with disparaging intent and are perceived as highly insulting. However, faggot (but not fag ) is sometimes used within the gay community as a positive term of self-reference.
noun Slang.
Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a gay man.
Offensive. a contemptible or dislikable person.
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Origin of fag

1
An Americanism dating back to 1920–25; by shortening of faggot1

OTHER WORDS FROM fag

fag·gish, adjective

Other definitions for fag (2 of 2)

fag2
[ fag ]
/ fæg /
verb (used with object), fagged, fag·ging.
verb (used without object), fagged, fag·ging.
Chiefly British. to work until wearied; work hard: to fag away at French.
British Informal. to do menial chores for an older public-school pupil.
noun

Origin of fag

2
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English fag(ge) “broken thread in cloth, a knot (in cloth), loose end” (further origin obscure); sense development apparently: “drooping end” to “droop, tire” to “make weary” to “drudgery, drudge” (compare flag1 to flag3); (def. 6) a shortening of fag end (“a butt,” hence a cigarette)

OTHER WORDS FROM fag

un·fagged, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Words related to fag

smoke, cripple, disable, drain, fatigue, frazzle, impoverish, overwork, sap, use up, weaken, weary, exhaust, jade, deteriorate, dwindle, fail, faint, rot, suffer

How to use fag in a sentence

  • Fagged out as they obviously were they tried to smile at the reply one made.

    How I Filmed the War|Lieut. Geoffrey H. Malins

  • Fagged out and eager as she was, she had not come to the point of forgetting what a great forest-fire meant.

    Judith of Blue Lake Ranch|Jackson Gregory

  • Fagged as he was, the air was electric, and he had everything to see.

    What Will People Say?|Rupert Hughes

British Dictionary definitions for fag (1 of 3)

fag1
/ (fæɡ) /
noun
informal a boring or wearisome taskit's a fag having to walk all that way
British (esp formerly) a young public school boy who performs menial chores for an older boy or prefect
verb fags, fagging or fagged
(when tr, often foll by out) informal to become or cause to become exhausted by hard toil or work
(usually intr) British to do or cause to do menial chores in a public schoolBrown fags for Lee

Word Origin for fag

C18: of obscure origin

British Dictionary definitions for fag (2 of 3)

fag2
/ (fæɡ) /
noun
British a slang word for cigarette
a fag end, as of cloth

Word Origin for fag

C16 (in the sense: something hanging loose, flap): of obscure origin

British Dictionary definitions for fag (3 of 3)

fag3
/ (fæɡ) /
noun
slang, mainly US and Canadian short for faggot 2
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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