Rag-and-famish (or The Rag), subs. phr. (military).—The Army and Navy Club.
1864. Yates, Broken to Harness, iv. From the Doctor's I went to the Rag and found Meaburn there.
1864. Sala, Quite Alone, xiii. The Rag and Famish seems to me a most palatial edifice, superb in all its exterior appointments.
1877. Punch's Pocket-Book (1878), 172. There's a Major I know who belongs to the Rag.
1887. Lovett-Cameron, Neck or Nothing, i. The very smartest and best-looking man to be met with between the Rag and Hyde Park Corner.
1890. D. Telegraph, 19 Aug., 5, 2. The genial "Rag" welcomes the sympathetic spirits of the Naval and Military with open arms.
Rag-baby, subs. phr. (American).—The
policy advocated by Green-*backers;
inflation of the currency
as a panacea for financial ills.—Bartlett.
Rage, verb. (old: colloquial).—To
wanton: hence ragerie = wantonness;
skittishness: cf. Rag,
subs. 10.
1383. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, 'Miler's Tale,' l. 87. On a day this hende Nicholas Fil with this yonge wyf to rage and pleye. Ibid., 'Merchant's Tale,' l. 603. He was al Coltissh, ful of ragerye.
1393. Gower, Confess. Aman. i. She began to plaie and rage, As who saith, I am well enough.
c.1440. Reliq. Antiq., i 29. When sche seyth gallantys revell yn hall, Yn here hert she thinkys owtrage, Desyrynge with them to pley and rage, And stelyth fro yow full prevely.
The rage (or all the rage), phr. (colloquial).—The fashion; the vogue; the go (q.v.).
1785. The New Rosciad, 37. 'Tis the rage in this great raging Nation, Who wou'd live and not be in the fashion?
1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, xxxv. You don't know how charming it is, and it will be all the rage.
1868. Spencer, Social Statics 178. In our day the rage for accumulation has apotheosized work.
1885. Daily Chronicle, 16 Sep. Criterion was all the rage.
Rag-fair, subs. phr. (old).—1. See
quot. 1892; and (2) see Rag,
subs. 7.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, xxvii. Mr. Morgan's wife kept a gin-shop in Rag-Fair.
1772. Bridges, Homer Burlesque, 205. One kept a slop-shop in Rag Fair.
1892. Sydney, English and the English in 18th Century, i. 32. Situated in the parish of St. Mary, Whitechapel, near the Tower of London, was the district called Rag Fair, where old clothes and frippery were sold.
Ragged-arse, adj. phr. (vulgar).—Disreputable;
tattered; spoiled.
Ragged-arse brigade = the
baser sort; tag-rag-and-bob-*tail;
'Tom Dick, and Harry.'
Ragged-arse reputation (or
virtue) = one gone to tatters.
Ragged, adj. (rowing).—Collapsed.
Ragged-brigade, subs. phr. (military).—Thirteenth
Hussars. Also
"The Green Dragons"; "The
Evergreens"; and "The Great
Runaway Prestonpans."
Ragged-Soph. See Soph.
Ragged Robin, subs. phr. (provincial).—A
keeper's follower
(New Forest).
Ragman (or Rageman), subs. (old).—The
devil. Also (2) see Rigmarole.
1363. Langland, Piers Plowman, xix. 122. Filius by the faders wil flegh with Spiritus Sanctus, To ransake that rageman and reue hym hus apples, That fyrst man deceyuede thorgh frut and false by-heste.
