🧽 A cleaning cloth 📰 A cheap newspaper 🎉 A charity event 🎹 A ragtime song 🎹 To play ragtime 😜 A practical joke 😏 To tease

rag

3 8.5

A noisy practical joke played by students

noun
/ræɡ/

Archaic

: broma

During Freshers' Week, the students organized a traditional rag to welcome newcomers with playful pranks.

Examples

At the college, a friendly rag involved harmless jokes and lighthearted competitions among the students.
They pulled a funny rag on their professor by pretending to forget his birthday.
You should've seen the rag he lit under Lonnegan!

The Sting (1973)

Idioms

on the rag

Slur

5 9.9

A woman who is having her period, said in a rude way

to feel like a wet rag

8.6

To be very tired and weak after hard effort

Compounds

rag doll

4 2.0

A cloth doll filled with stuffing and with a painted or stitched face

rag doll

Specialized

2 5.8

In video games, a character that falls limp and moves like a cloth doll

oily rag

1 3.4

A piece of cloth soaked in oil used to clean or shine things

toe rag

Offensive

1 9.9

A person who is very unpleasant and treats others badly

snot rag

Offensive

1 9.9

A rude word for a piece of cloth or paper used to wipe your nose

rag bag

1 7.1

A messy mix of things that do not belong together

rag paper

Specialized

1 7.5

A sheet people make from old cloth that lasts a long time

rag trade

1 4.9

A business that makes and sells fashionable clothes

fag rag

Slur

9.9

An insulting name for a magazine about gay or lesbian culture

rag day

6.7

A day often at a university when students hold fun events to raise money for charity

rag gourd

Indian

9.3

A tropical climbing plant with big yellow flowers, edible young fruits, and a dry inside used as a sponge

rag week

9.1

A week when students hold events to raise money for charity

red rag

8.3

A comment or act that makes someone very angry, especially if they are already upset

pine-tar rag

Jargon

8.7

A cloth soaked in pine tar that batters rub on a bat handle to help them hold it better

tag and rag

Jargon

9.8

A method of marking people and keeping records to check safety and how well work is done

wet rag

Offensive

8.5

A person who is dull and has little energy or interest

How Mischievous

rag

Archaic

3 8.5

prank

Informal

202 3.2

caper

Informal

9 5.3

antic

53 5.6

tease

17 4.0

Surface Forms

rag singular

rags plural

Etymology

Rag meaning a noisy or mischievous prank grew from those student 'rag' events where wild jokes and tricks happened, so a rag is now a boisterous prank, often by students.