shag
1 Americannoun
-
rough, matted hair, wool, or the like.
-
a mass of this.
-
a hairdo in which hair is cut in slightly uneven, overlapping layers downward from the crown, sometimes with the hair at the front and back hairlines left longer or wispier than the rest.
-
a cloth with a nap, as of silk or a heavy or rough woolen fabric.
-
a rug or carpet with a thick, shaggy pile.
-
a coarse tobacco cut into fine shreds.
verb (used with or without object)
noun
-
a small cormorant, Phalacrocorax aristotelis, of European coasts.
-
any of several small cormorants of the Southern Hemisphere.
verb (used without object)
noun
verb (used with or without object)
noun
-
an act or instance of sexual intercourse.
It’s been a while since I’ve had a shag.
-
a sexual partner, or a person considered as a sexual object.
I bet she’d be a good shag.
noun
-
a matted tangle, esp of hair, wool, etc
-
a napped fabric, usually a rough wool
-
shredded coarse tobacco
verb
verb
-
to have sexual intercourse with (a person)
-
to exhaust; tire
noun
noun
-
a cormorant, esp the green cormorant ( Phalacrocorax aristotelis )
-
slang abandoned and alone
Usage
What else does shag mean? Shag means "to have sex" with someone in British slang.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of shag1
First recorded before 1050; Old English sceacga “(wooly) hair” (not recorded in Middle English ); cognate with Old Norse skegg “beard”; akin to shaw
Origin of shag2
First recorded before 1560–70; perhaps special use of shag 1, applied first to bird's crest
Origin of shag3
First recorded in 1350–1400; perhaps variant of shog
Origin of shag4
First recorded in 1930–35; origin uncertain; see shack 2
Origin of shag5
First recorded in 1780–90; origin unknown
Vocabulary lists containing shag
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:
Now Britons are growing exasperated with a decorator whose tastes run to the intellectual equivalent of avocado-colored appliances and garish shag carpeting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2025
She appeared at our interview with opaque cat eye sunglasses and her signature shag haircut stylishly mussed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2025
The fulcrum of a cultural transition from vibrancy to stagnation was the 1970s, an era remembered now, if at all, for leisure suits, burnt-orange shag carpeting and muttonchop sideburns.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2025
There is good news for some of the seabirds that breed in the UK, with the shag moving from the red list to the amber and the black guillemot from the amber to the green.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2024
I’m sitting on our brown shag carpet, boohooing like a dang fool, clutching onto Darlene, shoulders shaking worse than an earthquake.
From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles
As Team USA ran through its first World Baseball Classic workout, Kershaw participated in pitchers’ fielding practice and shagged fly balls during batting practice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 2, 2026
He had visited Camden Yards only once previously — many years ago, he shagged fly balls during batting practice while accompanied his father, then an outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 27, 2022
I got my love of golf from my father, who has been around the game so long that he once shagged balls for Ben Hogan.
From Golf Digest ● May 5, 2020
A ballboy named Brady and three others that looked like they shared the name shagged flat jumpers for George 45 minutes before tip Wednesday, as onlookers stood by.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 14, 2017
And then Danny got up and Horace Clarke pitched and Joe Pepitone and I shagged balls in the outfield.
From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt
Not even teenagers yet, Ebel’s sons would be taking ground balls and shagging in the outfield during batting practice before the start of Dodger games.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2025
He’s spent recent games watching and shagging baseballs and bats.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 28, 2023
Arozarena had entertained during batting practice, shagging flies in left while wearing a sombrero and cowboy boots.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 21, 2023
Other times, he will sit down with one after the pitchers come in from their warmups after shagging flyballs.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 23, 2022
Mariners: CF Kyle Lewis is shagging flyballs and ramping up his baseball activities as he works back from a torn right meniscus that has sidelined him since June 1.
From Fox News ● Aug. 24, 2021
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.
