Definition of "dag" in English

noun

1. A hanging end or shred, in particular a long pointed strip of cloth at the edge of a piece of clothing, or one of a row of decorative strips of cloth that may ornament a tent, booth or fairground.

2. A dangling lock of sheep’s wool matted with dung.

   • To see the dunged folds of dag-tayled sheepe.
   • 1859-1865, Hensleigh Wedgwood, A Dictionary of English Etymology Daglocks, clotted locks hanging in dags or jags at a sheep's tail.
   • He was one of the first significant private buyers of wool in New Zealand, playing a major part in bringing respectability to what at first was a very diverse group. He pioneered the pelletising of dag waste.
   • The development of dags first requires some faeces to adhere to wool, but this is only the initial step in accumulation.
   • [Researchers] note that free pellets are characteristic of healthy sheep and that if sheep consistently produced free pellets, wool staining and dag formation would not occur.

verb

1. To shear the hindquarters of a sheep in order to remove dags or prevent their formation.

2. (transitive) To cut or slash the edge of a garment into dags

3. (obsolete, or dialectal) To sully; to make dirty; to bemire.

noun

1. A skewer.

2. A spit, a sharpened rod used for roasting food over a fire.

3. (obsolete) A dagger; a poniard.

4. (obsolete) A kind of large pistol.

5. The unbranched antler of a young deer.

verb

1. (transitive) To skewer food, for roasting over a fire

interjection

1. (US, informal) Expressing shock, awe or surprise; used as a general intensifier.

noun

1. (Australia slang, derogatory) One who dresses unfashionably or without apparent care about appearance; someone who is not cool; a dweeb or nerd.

   • 2004 July 25, Debbie Kruger, Melbourne Weekly Magazine, All the World's a Stage, Now, wide-eyed and unfashionably excited ("I’m such a dag!" she remarks several times), she has the leading role of Viola in the Bell Shakespeare Company’s production of Twelfth Night, opening on August 10 at the Victorian Arts Centre Playhouse.

2. (Australia slang, New Zealand, obsolete) An odd or eccentric person; someone who is a bit strange but amusingly so.

noun

1. A misty shower; dew.