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:
My wife absolutely loves the full shag carpeting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
They spread poster boards across the cream-colored shag rug, shook up their paint pens and started to craft their messages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 8, 2026
Upstairs in Grossman’s office, which is now her architecture studio, she also removed the shag carpeting and replaced it with colorful cork flooring designed to feel like “fallen, random leaves,” she says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2025
An era remembered now, if at all, for leisure suits, burnt-orange shag carpeting and muttonchop sideburns, it marked the passage from progress to reaction.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2025
He was in his late twenties, blond, shag haircut, green eyes, and a silver-dollarsized circular bum scar on his forehead.
From "Hole in My Life" by Jack Gantos
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
The Blackhawks tied it when Khaira shagged the puck off a bank pass, skated into the zone and fired a wrist shot far side and under Lehner’s right arm at 4:38 of the second.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 8, 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 Joe Pepitone got up and Doug and I shagged balls in the outfield.
From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt
Then-Dodgers infielder Justin Turner added of Ireton: “Everything he does is the max. He’s out there power shagging, trying to make plays and slide catches. It’s been fun to have him on the team.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2024
Brewers manager Craig Counsell said Tellez was shagging fly balls in the outfield Saturday and got his finger stuck in the padding of the center field wall.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 16, 2023
Elsewhere, parent Catalina Varela, who’s stopped by after work, calls to a kid shagging balls on first base.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 28, 2023
He’s spent recent games watching and shagging baseballs and bats.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 28, 2023
A few minutes later, he saw infield duo CJ Abrams and Luis García shagging flyballs.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 8, 2023
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
