scrag

[skrag]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR scrag ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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), scragged, scrag·ging.

Slang. to wring the neck of; hang; garrote.

Metallurgy. to test (spring steel) by bending.

Origin of scrag

First recorded in 1535–45; obscurely akin to crag²

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for scrag

stretch, execute, hoist, swing, noose, lynch, gibbet

Examples from the Web for scrag

Historical Examples of scrag

There was no trouble about our going among them so long as Scrag did not wind us.
The Trail Book
Mary Austin
Make the gravy of a scrag of mutton, a tea-spoonful of lemon pickle, a large spoonful of ketchup, and the same of browning.
The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches,
Mary Eaton
The meat on the plate was pork, and the dish of scrag was empty.
Brother Copas
Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
He turned about, stared at the plate, stared from the plate to the dish of scrag.
Brother Copas
Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Hunt for the spirit of the coming ruction and try to scrag it!
King--of the Khyber Rifles
Talbot Mundy

British Dictionary definitions for scrag

scrag

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 scrags, scragging or scragged (tr)

informal to wring the neck of; throttle

Word Origin for scrag

C16: perhaps variant of crag; related to Norwegian skragg, German Kragen collar

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 scrag

1540s, "lean person or animal, a raw-bones;" perhaps from a Scandinavian source (cf. Norwegian skragg "a lean person;" dialectal Swedish skraka "a great, dry tree; a long, lean man," skragge "old and torn thing," Danish skrog "hull of a ship, carcass," Icelandic skröggr, a nickname of the fox); perhaps from root of shrink.