scrag
Americannoun
-
a lean or scrawny person or animal.
-
the lean end of a neck of veal or mutton.
-
Slang. the neck of a human being.
verb (used with object)
-
Slang. to wring the neck of; hang; garrote.
-
Metallurgy. to test (spring steel) by bending.
noun
-
a thin or scrawny person or animal
-
the lean end of a neck of veal or mutton
-
informal the neck of a human being
verb
Etymology
Origin of scrag
First recorded in 1535–45; obscurely akin to crag 2
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.
After all, eggs hatched at 40 plus, like mine, represent the scrag end of the market.
From The Guardian • Oct. 18, 2014
The expressionist body is a scrag of mutton with big extremities, very unlike the prosperous Renaissance nudes that, however mutated, survived in Picasso and Matisse.
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
No wan iver seed a scrag of her after that.
From Fort Desolation Red Indians and Fur Traders of Rupert's Land by Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
Lay a fowl, or a few bones of the scrag of veal, seasoned, into a dish.
From The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families by Eaton, Mary, fl. 1823-1849
And the ass, for its part, responded to the caress by rubbing its head against the boy's breast and by most energetically twitching its scrag of a tail.
From The Aztec Treasure-House by Janvier, Thomas A. (Thomas Allibone)
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.