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:
Or has he been on a crying jag?
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2023
And last autumn only about 50% of health and social are workers came forward for a jag.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2023
What Cronenberg has done instead is to concoct a hallucinatory jag about the tortuous process Burroughs went through in creating “Naked Lunch.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 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 several days she was on a laughing jag.
From "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli
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
Another instructor, Jag Singh, told us: "One of my students just failed and he was in tears because his parents are going to have to pay over £500 for another test. It's a vicious cycle."
From BBC ● Dec. 6, 2025
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
So Provinzino held Isihara, the JAG lawyer detailed to this case, in civil contempt until the cards were returned, with the $500 daily sanction.
From Slate ● Feb. 19, 2026
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
The records do not specify how long his visits lasted; generally, JAG officers stayed on base for weeks at a time.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 19, 2023
Davis will become JAG High School, representing three figures of the civil rights movement: Judge Frank Johnson, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy and the Rev. Robert Graetz.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 12, 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
He was nicknamed "two jags" by the press after it emerged he had two Jaguar cars.
From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2024
There are jags of tears and “what ifs” even when you aren’t forced to place a child for adoption.
From New York Times ● Dec. 18, 2021
He immediately ruled out spasmodic dysphonia and asked Emmons whether she had experienced inappropriate laughing or crying jags.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 9, 2021
Her histrionics upon confessing what she’d done, and her subsequent crying jags, are not indicators of sincere remorse and preparedness to change, but additional manipulative tactics designed to sidestep the consequence of her actions.
From Slate ● Nov. 3, 2020
She's Sybil with a better sense of humor, Eve without the crying jags.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
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
Cheslin Kolbe, who jagged off the same foot to ice Owen Farrell's ankles in the 2019 Rugby World Cup final, danced in at the end of that attack.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
Throughout the earthquake zone, people without any proper equipment have been seen pulling victims from jagged piles of masonry and rebar.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
A small, goggle-eyed creature with pointy ears and a mouthful of jagged teeth has somehow become one of the defining consumer products this decade.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
Indigo mountains line the horizon in jagged peaks.
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
Murray, all scampering pace and jagging sidesteps, would be a crowd-pleasing pick.
From BBC ● May 5, 2025
Shaping in then jagging back as he did with that final ball.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 20, 2020
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
The window shuts harder than it should, and now there’s a crack jagging down the pane, a pane so dirty it lets in almost no light at all.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
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.
