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2295 entries found
rag-doll (n.)
child's plaything, 1776 (from 1757 as "a dressed-up woman"), from rag (n.1) + doll (n.). Rag-baby attested from 1798. Shakespeare has babe of clowts (i.e. "clouts"), 1590s.
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raga (n.)
1788, from Sanskrit raga-s "harmony, melody, mode in music," literally "color, mood," related to rajyati "it is dyed," from PIE *reg- (3) "to dye" (source also of Greek rhegos "blanket, rug").
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ragamuffin (n.)
mid-14c., "demon," also in surnames (Isabella Ragamuffyn, 1344), from Middle English raggi "ragged" ("rag-y"?) + fanciful ending (or else second element is Middle Dutch muffe "mitten"). Or, as Johnson has it, "From rag and I know not what else." Ragged was used of the devil from c. 1300 in reference to "shaggy" appearance. Raggeman was used by Langland as the name of a demon, and compare Old French Ragamoffyn, name of a demon in a mystery play. Sense of "dirty, disreputable boy" is from 1580s. Compare in the same sense ragabash (c. 1600).
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rage (v.)
mid-13c., "to play, romp," from rage (n.). Meanings "be furious; speak passionately; go mad" first recorded c. 1300. Of things from 1530s. Related: Raged; raging.
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rage (n.)
c. 1300, "madness, insanity; fit of frenzy; anger, wrath; fierceness in battle; violence of storm, fire, etc.," from Old French rage, raige "spirit, passion, rage, fury, madness" (11c.), from Medieval Latin rabia, from Latin rabies "madness, rage, fury," related to rabere "be mad, rave" (compare rabies, which originally had this sense), from PIE *rebh- "violent, impetuous" (source also of Old English rabbian "to rage"). Similarly, Welsh (cynddaredd) and Breton (kounnar) words for "rage, fury" originally meant "hydrophobia" and are compounds based on the word for "dog" (Welsh ci, plural cwn; Breton ki). In 15c.-16c. it also could mean "rabies." The rage "fashion, vogue" dates from 1785.
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ragged (adj.)
"rough, shaggy," c. 1300, past-participle adjective as though from a verb form of rag (n.). Compare Latin pannosus "ragged, wrinkly," from pannus "piece of cloth." But the word might reflect a broader, older meaning; perhaps from or reinforced by Old Norse raggaðr "shaggy," via Old English raggig "shaggy, bristly, rough" (which, Barnhart writes, "was almost surely developed from Scandinavian"). Of clothes, early 14c.; of persons, late 14c. To run (someone) ragged is from 1915. Related: Raggedly; raggedness.
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raggedy (adj.)
1845, U.S. Southern, from ragged + -y (2). Raggedy Ann stories first published 1918, character created by U.S. illustrator Johnny Gruelle (1880-1938). The tangle of tales about the origin of the doll and the name probably are mostly invention, sorrow's grieving-shrine for Marcella Gruelle (1902-1915), best left alone.
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raggedy-ass (adj.)
by 1930, from raggedy + ass (n.2).
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raghead (n.)
insulting term for "South Asian or Middle Eastern person," 1910, from rag (n.) + head (n.); in reference to turbans, etc.
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raglan (n.)
type of overcoat, 1863, named for British general Lord Raglan (1788-1855), commander of British forces in the Crimean War. The name is from a place in Wales.
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