scrag
Americannoun
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a lean or scrawny person or animal.
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the lean end of a neck of veal or mutton.
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Slang. the neck of a human being.
verb (used with object)
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Slang. to wring the neck of; hang; garrote.
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Metallurgy. to test (spring steel) by bending.
noun
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a thin or scrawny person or animal
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the lean end of a neck of veal or mutton
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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.
See Examples For:
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
Another way of making a good hodge podge, is to stew a knuckle of veal and a scrag of mutton, with some vegetables, adding a bit of butter rolled in flour.
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
Make a good gravy with part of a knuckle of veal, and the scrag end of a neck or a chump end of a loin of mutton.
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
He proceeded, therefore, to give his worthy spouse some initiatory instructions in the art of jointing a scrag of mutton, cutting out a pluck, or chinning a whole sheep upon an occasion.
From Forgotten Tales of Long Ago by Bedford, F. D.
Centre Emma Orr scragged Dow with a stretching cover tackle as the England wing bore down on the line after a charge down.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2025
A chasing Maro Itoje scragged Hugo Keenan and pints were spilled in delight.
From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2022
Peter Nelson was almost to the tryline when he was scragged by Beauden Barrett.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 2, 2019
Petri takes it but he’s scragged and knocks on on halfway.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 11, 2015
Though his early companions were scragged at Tyburn, the light-fingered rascal was indifferent to their fate, and squandering such booty as fell to his share, he bravely 'turned out' for more.
From A Book of Scoundrels by Whibley, Charles
The best ones have been breathtaking, beginning with the 5-3 scragging of Chelsea on New Year’s Day 2015, when a Spurs team with five Bale-money hang-overs in the squad ran the champions-in-waiting into the ground.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 27, 2019
But still De Gea came back for more, bristling like a lovable cartoon puppy, the hardest kid in chess club, seeming to grow in conviction with every scragging.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 19, 2013
The prop Davit Zirakashvili was in the sin bin then after scragging Richard Wigglesworth from a blatantly offside position.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 9, 2010
For this she was put to scragging, second-picking the bushes that had a few inferior puffs left on the twigs by swifter hands than hers.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
The McGill men, shoving, hacking, scragging, fighting fiercely, finally dropping on their knees, strive to check that relentless advance.
From The Prospector by Connor, Ralph
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.
