How do you use the word "rag" in a sentence?

Q: How do you use the word "rag" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "rag": She used a damp rag to wipe off the dust. Don't talk to him about politics because it's like a red rag to a bull.

Rag Meaning

/ɹæɡ/

Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounTattered clothes (clothing).

nounA piece of old cloth, especially one used for cleaning, patching, etc.; a tattered piece of cloth; a shred or tatter.

Sentence Examples

She used a damp rag to wipe off the dust.

Don't talk to him about politics because it's like a red rag to a bull.

He plugged the hole in the pipe with an old rag.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

tag devil annoy

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

Use a clean ____ to wipe the dust off the table.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

She used an old ____ to wipe the oil from the engine before checking the fluid levels.

Word Origin & History

From Middle English ragge, from Old English ragg (suggested by derivative raggiġ (“shaggy; bristly; ragged”)), from Old Norse rǫgg (“tuft; shagginess”), from Proto-Germanic *rawwa-, probably related to *rūhaz. Cognate with Swedish ragg. Related to rug.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm." — 1684, John Dryden, Miscellany Poems: Containing a New Translation of Virgills Eclogues, Ovid's Love Elegies, Odes of Horace and Other Authors, The twenty-ninth ode of the first book of Horace:

"Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, toss'd, / And flutter'd into rags; then reliques, beads," — 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book III, lines 490-491:

"[…]even by the law of their own might and malice, not having otherwise any rag of legality to cover the shame of their cruelty." — 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain from the Birth of Jesus Christ until the year MDCXLVIII, page 399:

"For upon the like Proclamation there, they all came in, both tag and rag" — 1596, Edmund Spenser, A Veue of the Present State of Irelande:

"The other zealous rag is the compositor, / Who in an angle where the ants inhabit, / (The emblems of his labors) will sit curl'd" — 1623, Ben Jonson, Time Vindicated to Himself and to His Honours:

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