Forms: 5–7 iagge, 6 iaggue), 6–7 iagg, iag, 7– jagg, jag. [Jag sb. and vb. are found from c. 1400. From the uncertain date of the Morte Arthur (MS. c. 1440) in which the vb. first occurs, it does not appear whether the sb. or the vb. is the primary word. The sb., with the adj. jagged, but not the vb., is in the Promptorium c. 1440. The formation appears to be onomatopœic; in some senses it coincides with DAG sb.1 and 3, DAG v.1 and 2, and in some approaches tag and rag.
There are no cognates in Teutonic or Romanic, and the Celtic gàg ‘split, rent, fissure,’ sometimes compared, cannot (in our present knowledge) be connected phonetically. It is possible that the two notions of ‘cut or slash,’ and ‘pierce,’ ought to be referred to separate words (cf. DAG v.1 and 2); but in our ignorance of the facts, they are here left together. In the vb. the sense ‘pierce, prick’ is essentially northern, and is the only sense known in Sc.]
1. One of the dags or pendants made by cutting the edge of a garment, as was done for ornament in the 14th and 15th cents.; also, a slash or cut made in the surface of a garment, to show a different color underneath.
14[?]. W. Staunton, Vis. Patrick’s Purg., 1409 (MS. Reg. 17 B XLIII. lf. 136 b). I saw summe there with colors of gold abowte here neckis,… summe with mo iagges on here clothis than hole cloth. Ibid., lf. 141. Thilk serpentes, snakes, todes, and other wormes, ben here iaggis and daggis.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 255/2. Iagge, or dagge of a garment, fractillus.
1530. Palsgr., 233/2. Iagge a cuttyng, chicqueture.
1552. Huloet, Iagge of a garmente, lacinia.
1573–80. Baret, Alv., I 5. A Iag, garse, or cut, Incisûra, Lacinia.
1577. Harrison, England, II. vii. (1877), I. 170. What should I saie of their [women’s] doublets … full of iags and cuts.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., 11. To the end, that these inner garments, thus beset with long iagges and purfles, might shine againe with varietie of threads seene quite through.
1613. T. Milles, trans. Mexia’s, etc., Treas. Anc. & Mod. T., I. 960/1. To weare such rich garments, Imbroydered with Veluet, in a thousand iagges and cuts.
1715. trans. Pancirollus’ Rerum Mem., II. xxiv. 203. Severus never wore any Garment of Velvet, which we now see daily tatter’d into Iags, even by the meaner sort.
† b. An attached pendant or fringe. Obs.
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, II. 143. Whereupon they sowe iags of partie-coloured silke, and upon every iag a little ball or button of silke, whereby the saide hanging may … be fastened unto a wall.
1606. Holland, Sueton., 19. He … who used to goe in his Senatours purple studded robe, trimmed with a iagge or frindge at the sleeve hand. Ibid., 186. As he was rising up, first the hem (margin Iag, welt or fringes) or edge of his Gowne stuck to the seate.
2. A shred of cloth; in pl. Rags, tatters. Also transf. and fig. A scrap, fragment. Obs. exc. dial.
1555. W. Watreman, Fardle Facions, II. i. 113. Pluckyng from eche of their garmentes a litle iaggue.
1637. Heywood, Royall King, III. i. Wks. 1874, VI. 39. Wee have store, of ragges; plenty, of tatters; aboundance, of jagges.
1658. Cleveland, Rustick Rampant, Wks. (1687), 415. To preserve a Shred, or jagg of an incertain ragged Estate.
a. 1670. Hacket, Abp. Williams, I. (1693), ¶ 146. 136. The Latter of the two Letters,… whereof … some Jaggs will suffice to be recited.
1800. Mar. Edgeworth, Belinda (1830), II. xxiv. 156. I saw … black jags of paper littering the place.
1886. Elworthy, W. Somerset Word-bk., Jags, tatters.
3. A protruding bristle, hair or fiber; a hairy, bristly or thread-like outgrowth or projection. Now said dial. of the beard of an ear of corn; in Sc. a prickle, as of a thorn or furze.
1519. Horman, Vulg., 167 b. Some dagswaynys haue longe thrummys and iagges on bothe sydes: some but on one [cf. Cath. Januensis s.v. Fractillus, ‘fractillus dicitur etiam villus in tapeto vel aliâ veste villosâ’].
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. C iij a. The roote … beneth it hath many yealowe iagges or berdes lyke heres.
1609. C. Butler, Fem. Mon., iii. (1623), F j. First take away all those staring strawes, twigs, and other offensiue jagges that are fast in the Hiue, making them in-side as smooth as may be.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Country Farme, 556. It shall thus lye in the coutch till you see it begin to sprout and put forth little white jags or strings which is called the coming of the malt.
1683. A. Snape, Anat. Horse, I. xxvi. (1686), 54. Then parting into many jags as it were, they [ligaments] end near the clitoris.
1880. Jefferies, Gt. Estate, 8. The despised oats were coming out in jag … in jag means the spray-like drooping awn of the oat.
4. A sharp projection or tooth on an edge or surface; one of the teeth, denticulations, or divisions of a leaf; a sharp or rugged point of rock, etc.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, I. xxxii. 45. The thirde kinde [of Stork’s Bill] … hath … small leaues, cut as it were in little iagges or peeces.
1608. Topsell, Serpents (1658), 666. Their other feet are broader, with many jags and notches like a saw.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v. Papilio, [They] have one of the jaggs of the wing far extended beyond the rest of the verge.
1831. Blackw. Mag., XXX. 129. The cliffs touch the clouds with their jags.
1892. H. Hutchinson, Fairway Island, 98. Clutching an outstanding jag of the rock.
5. A jagged piece of metal fitted on the end of the ramrod of a rifle, and used, with some tow or rag fastened to it, to clean the barrel; now superseded by the ‘pull-through.’
1844. Regul. & Ord. Army, 96, note. One Ball-drawer, One Brass Jagg, to each Rifle.
1879. Martini-Henry Rifle Exerc., 61. Screw the jag on to the cleaning rod, wrap a damp rag round the jag, so as to cover it.
1880. Daily Tel., 6 May, 5/8. A private … shot himself … with a blank cartridge and the jag of his ramrod.
1890. Rep. Magazine Rifle, § 19, in Times, 6 Dec., 15/4. The jag in the Martini-Henry rifle is an extra part, and has to be screwed on to the rod.
6. ‘A barb or dovetail which resists retraction.’
1875. in Knight, Dict. Mech., [Cf. JOG.]
7. Sc. A prick with anything sharp.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., ix. Affliction may gie him a jagg, and let the wind out o’ him.
Mod. Sc. A tailor gave an elephant a jag with his needle. His bare legs were a’ jags wi’ rinnin’ through the whuns.
8. attrib. and Comb., as jag-armed a. armed with jags or prickles; jag-bolt: see quot. (hence jag-bolt v., to fasten with a jag-bolt); jag-spear, a barbed spear; jag-tail (see quot.).
1819. W. Tennant, Papistry Storm’d (1827). 73. *Jag-arm’d nettles soon, I trow, The passers-by shall sting.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 42, note. *Jag or bearded bolts or spikes, are such as with a chissel have a beard raised upon their angles. Ibid., § 48. The uprights were also *jag-bolted and trenailed to one another.
1864. in M‘Lennan, Prim. Marriage (1865), 304. Their long *jag-spears.
1741. Compl. Fam.-Piece, II. ii. 347. Your Bait, which should be a Red Worm, or a Worm called the *Jag-tail, which is of a pale flesh Colour, with a yellow Jag on his Tail.
