[Of obscure etymology; the common view that it is a corruption of FLAG v. would satisfactorily account for the sense; see quot. 1486 in FAG sb.2 1. Cf. also FAIK v.3]
† 1. intr. To flag, droop, decline (lit. and fig.); to fall off, swerve from, into. Obs. exc. dial.
1530. Palsgr., 543/1. I fagge from the trouthe (Lydgate): this terme is nat in our comen use.
1563–87. Foxe, A. & M. (1596), 1017/2. His handes fagged downward.
1624. Bp. Hall, The True Peace-maker, 24. Woe be to those partiall Iudges, that iustifie the wicked, and condemne the innocent; the girdle of whose equitie faggs downe on that side where the purse hangs.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, 202. Elective States in Christendom, though bound with the straitest laws, often fagge aside into schismes and factions.
1708–11. G. Mackenzie, Lives (1722), III. 292. The Italian attacked him with such Vigor and Eagerness, that he began to fag, having overacted himself.
1786. Harvest Rig, in R. Chambers, Pop. Poems Scot. (1862), 44. They never fag.
1878. Cumbrld. Gloss., Fag … to hang back.
2. To do something that wearies one; to work hard; to labor, strain, toil.
1772. Mad. D’Arblay, Early Diary, April. All day I am fagging at business—then in the evening I begin to live.
1794. Ld. Spencer, in Ld. Auckland’s Corr., III. 299. Arthur Paget, on whose account I am now fagging to Berlin at a very awkward moment.
1829. Scott, Jrnl., 19 March. I fagged at my review on Ancient Scottish History.
1859. Dickens, T. Two Cities, II. viii. Monsieur the Marquis in his travelling carriage (which might have been lighter), conducted by four post-horses and two postillions, fagged up a steep hill.
1862. The Saturday Review, XIII. 8 Feb., 144/2. Liberating ourselves from these embarrassments by casting off our colonies and dependencies is like giving up a problem instead of fagging on till it is solved.
1884. Lawson, Upton Gloss., Fag … to pull hard as at a rope.
3. trans. To make (one) fatigued; to tire, weary. Said of both persons and things.
1826. Scott, Jrnl., 9 April. I worked at correcting proofs in the morning, and, what is harder, at correcting manuscript, which fags me excessively.
1836. E. Howard, Rattlin, the Reefer, xxii. He would fag me desperately at cricket.
1858. Baroness Bunsen, in Hare, Life, II. iv. 235. Correcting the vast number of sheets that have come … has fagged him too much.
1879. Dixon, Brit. Cyprus, xxvii. 269. No one cares to fag himself with talk.
4. In Public School phraseology, a. intr. To be a fag, to act as a fag; to perform certain services for another. To fag out: to go as fag, esp. in cricket, to field.
1806. J. Beresford, Miseries Hum. Life (ed. 3), III. xv. 48. Fagging for a niggardly glutton, who does not leave you even the scraps of what you have stolen and dressed for him.
1857. T. Hughes, Tom Brown, I. viii. I won’t fag except for the sixth.
1860. Thackeray, Round. Papers, On a Joke, 89. The ground where you had to fag out on holidays.
1881. H. H. Almond, Athletics and Education, in Macm. Mag., XLIII. Feb., 288/2. They must sometimes play football or fag out at cricket.
b. trans. To make a fag of; to compel to do certain offices.
1824. Southey, in C. Southey, Life & Corr., I. 138. He was not high enough in the school to fag me.
1845. Alb. Smith, Fort. Scatterg. Fam., xvi. (1887), 53. He was fagged in the school-room during the hours that he was at the mercy of his superior fellows; he was bullied in the cloisters by the other boys—even by those younger than himself, who seeing his quiet and inoffensive disposition, played off any cruelties upon him that their evil spirits suggested.
1857. T. Hughes, Tom Brown, I. viii. What right have the fifth-form boys to fag us?
1889. A. R. Hope, Sister Mary, in Boy’s Own Paper, 3 Aug., 699/2. He [the prefect] used to fag me to blow the chapel organ for him on fine afternoons.
5. Naut. (See quots.) Cf. FAG sb.2
1841. Dana, Seaman’s Manual, 104. A rope is fagged when the end is untwisted.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 285. Fag-out, To. To wear out the end of a rope or end of canvas.
6. slang. To beat. Obs. [? A distinct word; cf. FEAGUE.]
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Fag, to Beat.
1730–6. in Bailey (folio).
1847–78. in Halliwell.
