Library / English Dictionary

FAG

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: fagged    , fagging   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Finely ground tobacco wrapped in paper; for smoking

Synonyms:

butt; cigaret; cigarette; coffin nail; fag

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("fag" is a kind of...):

roll of tobacco; smoke (tobacco leaves that have been made into a cylinder)

Meronyms (parts of "fag"):

cigarette butt (small part of a cigarette that is left after smoking)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fag"):

cubeb; cubeb cigarette (a cigarette containing cubeb)

filter-tipped cigarette (a cigarette with a filter tip)

joint; marijuana cigarette; reefer; spliff; stick (marijuana leaves rolled into a cigarette for smoking)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Offensive term for a homosexual man

Synonyms:

fag; faggot; fagot; fairy; nance; pansy; poof; poove; pouf; queen; queer

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("fag" is a kind of...):

gay; homo; homophile; homosexual (someone who is sexually attracted to persons of the same sex)

Domain usage:

depreciation; derogation; disparagement (a communication that belittles somebody or something)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Exhaust or get tired through overuse or great strain or stress

Example:

We wore ourselves out on this hike

Synonyms:

fag; fag out; fatigue; jade; outwear; tire; tire out; wear; wear down; wear out; wear upon; weary

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "fag" is one way to...):

indispose (cause to feel unwell)

Cause:

fatigue; jade; pall; tire; weary (lose interest or become bored with something or somebody)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "fag"):

beat; exhaust; tucker; tucker out; wash up (wear out completely)

overfatigue; overtire; overweary (tire excessively)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Work hard

Example:

Lexicographers drudge all day long

Synonyms:

dig; drudge; fag; grind; labor; labour; moil; toil; travail

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "fag" is one way to...):

do work; work (be employed)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Act as a servant for older boys, in British public schools

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "fag" is one way to...):

assist; attend; attend to; serve; wait on (work for or be a servant to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Credits

 Context examples: 

This threat was so palpably disregarded, that though within five minutes afterwards the three boys all burst into the room together and sat down, Fanny could not consider it as a proof of anything more than their being for the time thoroughly fagged, which their hot faces and panting breaths seemed to prove, especially as they were still kicking each other's shins, and hallooing out at sudden starts immediately under their father's eye.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Standing by the table, with his finger in the page to keep the place, and his right arm flourishing above his head, Traddles, as Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Burke, Lord Castlereagh, Viscount Sidmouth, or Mr. Canning, would work himself into the most violent heats, and deliver the most withering denunciations of the profligacy and corruption of my aunt and Mr. Dick; while I used to sit, at a little distance, with my notebook on my knee, fagging after him with all my might and main.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

This state of things should have been to me a paradise of peace, accustomed as I was to a life of ceaseless reprimand and thankless fagging; but, in fact, my racked nerves were now in such a state that no calm could soothe, and no pleasure excite them agreeably.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He inquired next after her family, especially William: and his kindness altogether was such as made her reproach herself for loving him so little, and thinking his return a misfortune; and when, on having courage to lift her eyes to his face, she saw that he was grown thinner, and had the burnt, fagged, worn look of fatigue and a hot climate, every tender feeling was increased, and she was miserable in considering how much unsuspected vexation was probably ready to burst on him.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

There were many things to be brought up from the beach and stored in the outhouse—as oars, nets, sails, cordage, spars, lobster-pots, bags of ballast, and the like; and though there was abundance of assistance rendered, there being not a pair of working hands on all that shore but would have laboured hard for Mr. Peggotty, and been well paid in being asked to do it, yet she persisted, all day long, in toiling under weights that she was quite unequal to, and fagging to and fro on all sorts of unnecessary errands.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

While Mary drew, Diana pursued a course of encyclopaedic reading she had (to my awe and amazement) undertaken, and I fagged away at German, he pondered a mystic lore of his own: that of some Eastern tongue, the acquisition of which he thought necessary to his plans.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)