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Glite Dictionary
to fag out

to fag out

1 9.7
To become very tired after hard work or stress
  • phrasal verb
  • UK
translation icon : agotarse
  • Then he cycled all day long until he was fagged out.

Examples

  • David was fagged out after the long 18-month journey, but he was relieved to be here.

    Academic text (1990)

  • Well, I continued to myself, maybe the old guy is fagged out and wants to catch up on his beauty sleep.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • "We were out in the hills and fagged out.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • After running the marathon, I was completely fagged out and needed to rest.

  • The team felt fagged out after practicing for hours in the scorching heat.

  • She was fagged out from the long hike up the mountain and fell asleep immediately.

Synonyms

to tire
vsto fag out
23 1.0

To become very tired or make someone very tired

reaches total exhaustion beyond a normal loss of energy
to tire out
vsto fag out
10 2.1

To make a person very tired by using up their energy

becomes extremely tired from physical effort or stress
to weary
vsto fag out
4 4.4

To make someone or yourself very tired after long effort

reaches extreme exhaustion rather than gradual low energy
to poop out
vsto fag out
  • Informal
1 8.4

To become very tired or stop working

becomes extremely tired and unable to continue from stress

Antonyms

to energize
  • US
65 3.7

To make someone feel more active and alert

to revitalize
  • US
45 4.8

To give new life and energy to something

How Tired

to fag out
  • UK
1 9.7
to tire
23 1.0

Surface Forms

fag out infinitive
fagged out past
fagged out past participle
fagging out present participle
fags out third person singular

Morphology

fag + out

The sense 'to become extremely tired' is directly compositional from 'fag' (to tire or work strenuously) plus the particle 'out' which marks completeness/intensification, yielding 'completely exhausted.' Verb + out constructions commonly encode a finished or intensified state in English, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the meaning.

Etymology

Fag out comes from the old verb fag meaning 'to tire' and the word out, which gives the image of someone completely used up. Imagine a person working or running until they have no strength left — they have 'fagged out', so today the phrase means 'to become extremely tired'.