Definition of "fag" in English

noun

1. (US, technical) In textile inspections, a rough or coarse defect in the woven fabric.

2. (UK, Ireland, colloquial) A cigarette.

3. (UK, Ireland, obsolete, colloquial) The worst part or end of a thing.

noun

1. (UK, Ireland, colloquial, now rare) A chore: an arduous and tiresome task.

2. (UK, Ireland, education, historical, colloquial) A younger student acting as a servant for senior students.

verb

1. (transitive, colloquial, used mainly in passive form, now rare) To make exhausted, tired out.

2. (intransitive, colloquial, now rare) To droop; to tire.

   • a. 1829, G. Mackenzie, Lives, quoted in 1829, "Fag", entry in The London Encyclopaedia: Or, Universal Dictionary, Volume 9, page 12, Creighton with-held his force 'till the Italian began to fag, and then brought him to the ground.

3. (intransitive, UK, Ireland, education, historical, colloquial) Of a younger student, to act as a servant for senior students in many British boarding schools.

4. (transitive, UK, Ireland, education, historical, colloquial) To have (a younger student) act as a servant in this way.

5. (intransitive, UK, Ireland, now rare) To work hard, especially on menial chores.

noun

1. (US, Canada, vulgar, usually offensive, sometimes endearing) A homosexual man, especially (usually derogatory) an effeminate or unusual one.

   • [1921 John Lind, The Female Impersonators (Historical Documentation of American Slang v. 1, A-G, edited by Jonathan E. Lighter (New York: Random House, 1994) page 716. Androgynes known as “fairies,” “fags,” or “brownies.”]

2. (US, vulgar, derogatory, offensive) An annoying person.

   • Why did you do that, you fag?