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sag

[sag]
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verb (used without object), sagged, sag·ging.
  1. to sink or bend downward by weight or pressure, especially in the middle: The roof sags.
  2. to hang down unevenly; droop: Her skirt was sagging.
  3. to droop; hang loosely: His shoulders sagged.
  4. to yield through weakness, lack of effort, or the like: Our spirits began to sag.
  5. to decline, as in price: The stock market sagged today.
  6. Nautical.
    1. (of a hull) to droop at the center or have excessive sheer because of structural weakness.Compare hog(def 14).
    2. to be driven to leeward; to make too much leeway.
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verb (used with object), sagged, sag·ging.
  1. to cause to sag.
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noun
  1. an act or instance of sagging.
  2. the degree of sagging.
  3. a place where anything sags; depression.
  4. a moderate decline in prices.
  5. Nautical.
    1. deflection downward of a hull amidships, due to structural weakness.
    2. leeway(def 3).
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Origin of sag

1375–1425; late Middle English saggen (v.), probably < Scandinavian; compare Norwegian sagga to move slowly (akin to Low German sacken to sink, Norwegian, Danish sakke, Swedish sacka, Icelandic sakka to slow up, fall behind)
Related formsan·ti·sag, adjectiveun·sag·ging, adjective

Synonyms

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4. weaken, flag, tire, weary.

SAG

[sag]
noun
  1. Screen Actors Guild.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for sag

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • All one has to do is to stop thinking and sag, or stop thinking and slash.

  • The bubble was holding, but the morale of the crew was beginning to sag.

    The Sky Trap

    Frank Belknap Long

  • I can see the sag of their tired shoulders against the whitewashed wall.

    My Antonia

    Willa Cather

  • It bent, swayed, gave with her, letting her sag to a larger limb below.

    The Flaming Jewel

    Robert W. Chambers

  • I've got on a pair of Wee Watts' now, and they sag something awful.

    Blue Bonnet in Boston

    Caroline E. Jacobs

British Dictionary definitions for sag

sag

verb sags, sagging or sagged (mainly intr)
  1. (also tr) to sink or cause to sink in parts, as under weight or pressurethe bed sags in the middle
  2. to fall in valueprices sagged to a new low
  3. to hang unevenly; droop
  4. (of courage, spirits, etc) to weaken; flag
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noun
  1. the act or an instance of sagginga sag in profits
  2. nautical the extent to which a vessel's keel sags at the centreCompare hog (def. 6), hogged
    1. a marshy depression in an area of glacial till, chiefly in the US Middle West
    2. (as modifier)sag and swell topography
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Word Origin

C15: from Scandinavian; compare Swedish sacka, Dutch zakken, Norwegian dialect sakka to subside, Danish sakke to lag behind
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

Word Origin and History for sag

v.

late 14c., possibly from a Scandinavian source related to Old Norse sokkva "to sink," or from Middle Low German sacken "to settle, sink" (as dregs in wine), from denasalized derivative of Proto-Germanic base *senkwanan "to sink" (see sink (v.)). A general North Sea Germanic word (cf. Dutch zakken, Swedish sacka, Danish sakke). Of body parts from 1560s; of clothes from 1590s. Related: Sagged; sagging.

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n.

1580s, in nautical use, from sag (v.). From 1727 of landforms; 1861 of wires, cables, etc.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper