jag
noun
a sharp projection on an edge or surface.
jag
1 American
[jag]
/ dʒæg /
noun
verb (used with object)
-
jags,
present (3rd person singular)
-
jagged,
past participle, past
-
jagging
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
jags,
present (3rd person singular)
-
jagged,
past participle, past
-
jagging
present participle
jag
2
American
[jag]
/ dʒæg /
noun
-
a period of unrestrained indulgence in an activity; spree; binge.
a crying jag; a talking jag.
-
a state of intoxication from liquor.
-
Northern, North Midland, and Western U.S. a load, as of hay or wood.
J.A.G.
3
American
Or
JAG
abbreviation
jag
1
British
/ dʒæɡ /
verb
-
(tr) to cut unevenly; make jagged
-
to catch (fish) by impaling them on an unbaited hook
noun
noun
jag
2
British
/ dʒæɡ /
noun
-
-
intoxication from drugs or alcohol
-
a bout of drinking or drug taking
-
-
a period of uncontrolled activity
a crying jag
Jag
3
British
/ dʒæɡ /
noun
JAG
4
British
abbreviation
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
jagsimple
-
jagssimple
-
have jaggedperfect
-
has jaggedperfect
-
am jaggingprogressive
-
are jaggingprogressive
-
is jaggingprogressive
-
have been jaggingperfect progressive
-
has been jaggingperfect progressive
Past
-
jaggedsimple
-
had jaggedperfect
-
was jaggingprogressive
-
were jaggingprogressive
-
had been jaggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of jag1
1350–1400; late Middle English jagge (noun), jaggen (v.), of obscure origin
Origin of jag2
1590–1600; perhaps originally load of broom or furze (compare Old English ceacga broom, furze)
Explanation
A jag is a sharp area that protrudes from a surface, a pointed bump or knob. The walls of a cave, rather than being smooth, might be lined with rocky jags. You'll encounter jags when you're mountain climbing or walking along the rocky coast. To "be on a jag" or "go on a jag" means to be completely unrestrained, whether you're on a drinking jag or a crying jag. This second meaning is of U.S. origin, first meaning "a load of hay or wood," and later "as much drink as a man can hold," in the 17th century. By the 1880s, it was "a period of unrestrained activity."
Vocabulary lists containing jag
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:
Since its buying jag began, the company has filed suit in federal court against a group of families the firm purchased property from, seeking $510 million.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2023
In just his second over, he got one to jag sharply and hit middle and off stumps with Shubman Gill offering no shot.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2023
Here’s another one for the “Kendall can’t stand to see his family get bullied” file: When Mencken makes fun of Roman’s crying jag, Kendall immediately shuts that joke down.
From New York Times ● May 21, 2023
For a moment, I wondered whether there might be some new subtlety in nuclear-deterrence strategy, or some strange jag in Russian military thinking, that might rebut my conclusion.
From Slate ● Mar. 27, 2023
The sound would jag around in our air for an indecisive second before the balcony’s occupants accepted it and sent their own guffaws to riot with it against the walls of the theater.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
J.A.G., and R.K. managed the project and wrote the manuscript.
From Nature ● Oct. 31, 2017
In other words, bitcoin is still somewhat connected to tech stocks, but it no longer moves with them in a simple, automatic way, according to Jag Kooner, head of derivatives at crypto exchange Bitfinex.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 5, 2026
Sweden's chart ban on Jag vet, du är inte min is tougher than the approach taken by international organisations like Billboard, regarded as the world authority on music rankings.
From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2026
"This guy was in a Jag and I told him I was on a sponsored hitch hike."
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2023
Felicia Cannon is a 63-year-old Tacoma native who now resides in Kennesaw, Ga. And Jag Bains, 25, is an entrepreneur who resides in Omak, Okanogan County, and is the show’s first Sikh Punjabi house guest.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 2, 2023
“All that’s missing is Jonny Lott jumping out of a Jag and forgetting his lines,” joked Rio.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
A former JAG and current professor at Texas Tech University, Geoffrey Corn, said the U.S. has considered perfidy a crime in non-international armed conflicts.
From Salon ● Jan. 13, 2026
We haven’t been in touch for a while—you stayed in the Navy; I went into private practice after wrapping up my obligated service in the JAG Corps.
From Slate ● Nov. 24, 2025
His service as a JAG officer included working with detainees at Guantanamo Bay, as well as an assignment as a legal adviser for the elite US Navy Seals deployed to Iraq.
From BBC ● May 23, 2023
Realizing street life was unsustainable, he escaped by joining the Marines in 2001, eventually serving in Japan as a paralegal for the judge advocate general, or JAG Corps.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 1, 2022
JAG From the Spanish word zaga, meaning a load packed on the outside of a van.
From The Foolish Dictionary An exhausting work of reference to un-certain English words, their origin, meaning, legitimate and illegitimate use, confused by a few pictures [not included] by Gideon Wurdz
Shell-shocked, he suffered panic attacks and crying jags but seems to have settled down after a sleepover with a friend.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 16, 2025
He was nicknamed "two jags" by the press after it emerged he had two Jaguar cars.
From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2024
The line bends and twists, jolts and jags.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 13, 2022
The singer is still afraid of Covid, and she had crying jags about returning to Broadway because “I just don’t want to do musicals anymore.”
From New York Times ● Dec. 11, 2021
On her right shin, visible even in the dimness of the indoor light, a thin pink scar jags down from her knee.
From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse
She shows me a plastic baby walker with a jagged broken leg and a Christmas Santa mug with no handle.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
At the university, shelves groan with jagged pieces of spines, necks and legs that to an untrained eye resemble battered stones.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
McElwee stitches together the past and present to find new meaning in their seams, a jagged line that runs through time and points toward the future.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026
German soldiers specialized in incorporating jagged chunks of shrapnel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
They were short, and their roots had jagged edges.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
A dazzling runner, with a jagging step and sharp acceleration, fewer than 30 of his 72 All Blacks caps have come as a starter.
From BBC ● Nov. 15, 2025
We bushwhacked until we came to a series of ditches, eight feet deep or more, jagging this way and that every few yards, sometimes intersecting with other deep, zigzaggy ditches.
From New York Times ● Aug. 21, 2014
Bobbing and jagging, the path looks cluttered and wild, but it’s just how molecules move in space.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 28, 2013
But by the fourth day, as well as the ball swinging nicely, the seam was biting in the dusty surface, jagging disarmingly and consistently.
From The Guardian ● May 19, 2013
He’d gone a little different with the Mohawk too, buzzing it close to his scalp and jagging it so it looked like a thunderbolt.
From "Burning Blue" by Paul Griffin
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.
