shag

¹

[shag]

noun

1. rough, matted hair, wool, or the like.

2. a mass of this.

3. 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.

4. a cloth with a nap, as of silk or a heavy or rough woolen fabric.

5. a rug or carpet with a thick, shaggy pile.

6. a coarse tobacco cut into fine shreds.

verb (used with or without object)

shagged, shagging 

1. to make or become rough or shaggy.

shag

²

[shag]

noun

1. a small cormorant, Phalacrocorax aristotelis, of European coasts.

2. any of several small cormorants of the Southern Hemisphere.

shag

³

[shag]

verb (used without object)

shagged, shagging 

1. to dance a step with a vigorous hopping on each foot.

noun

1. this dance step.

shag

⁴

[shag]

verb (used with object)

shagged, shagging 

1. to chase or follow after; pursue.

2. to go after and bring back; fetch.

3. Baseball.,  to retrieve and throw back (fly balls) in batting practice.

shag

⁵

[shag]

verb (used with or without object)

1. to have sexual intercourse (with): Sorry, but I don’t shag with just anyone.

   He was caught shagging his friend’s sister.

   Sorry, but I don’t shag with just anyone.

noun

1. an act or instance of sexual intercourse.

   It’s been a while since I’ve had a shag.

2. a sexual partner, or a person considered as a sexual object.

   I bet she’d be a good shag.

shag

¹

/ ʃæɡ /

noun

1. a matted tangle, esp of hair, wool, etc

2. a napped fabric, usually a rough wool

3. shredded coarse tobacco

verb

1. (tr) to make shaggy

shag

²

/ ʃæɡ /

verb

1. to have sexual intercourse with (a person)

2. to exhaust; tire

noun

1. an act of sexual intercourse

shag

³

/ ʃæɡ /

noun

1. a cormorant, esp the green cormorant ( Phalacrocorax aristotelis )

2. slang,  abandoned and alone

Usage

Though still likely to cause offence to many older or more conservative people, this word has lost a lot of its shock value of late. It seems to have a jocular, relaxed connotation, which most of the other words in this field do not. No doubt its acceptability has been accelerated by its use in the title of an Austin Powers film. Interestingly, though advertisements for the film caused a large number of complaints to the British Advertising Standards Authority, they were not upheld

Other Word Forms

• shaglike adjective

Word History and Origins

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; shack ²

Origin of shag⁵

First recorded in 1780–90; origin unknown

Word History and Origins

Origin of shag¹

Old English sceacga; related to sceaga _shaw ¹ , Old Norse skegg beard, skagi tip, skōgr forest

Origin of shag²

C20: of unknown origin

Origin of shag³

C16: special use of _shag ¹ , with reference to its crest

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. shag ass, to depart, especially hurriedly; get going.

Example Sentences

She appeared at our interview with opaque cat eye sunglasses and her signature shag haircut stylishly mussed.

From Los Angeles Times

The least fortunate among the siblings wore a bear suit and waved a sign, trying to shag customers for their dad’s real estate business.

From Los Angeles Times

The fulcrum of a cultural transition from vibrancy to stagnation was the 1970s, an era remembered now, if at all, for leisure suits, burnt-orange shag carpeting and muttonchop sideburns.

From Salon

Not even teenagers yet, Ebel’s sons would be taking ground balls and shagging in the outfield during batting practice before the start of Dodger games.

From Los Angeles Times

She acts out to prove she’s alive, which here mostly translates as her expressing a need to get shagged.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• drive 
• drive away www.thesaurus.com
• expel 
• follow 
• go after 
• hound 
• hunt 
• run down 
• rush 
• tear 
• track 
• trail 

When To Use

What else does shag mean?

Shag means "to have sex" with someone in British slang.