Also 5–6 tagge, 6 tagg, tage. [Known shortly after 1400: origin obscure. In senses 1, 2 a, and 3, it is synonymous with DAG sb.1, which appears to have been the earlier form: if so, tag may have been influenced by association with TACK. Some compare Sw. tagg ‘prickle, point, tooth,’ but evidence of historical connection is wanting.
The evidence at hand for the early history is deficient, the earliest quot. for the group being c. 1380 in TAGGED 1, a deriv. of the sb. in sense 1.]
1. Originally, one of the narrow, often pointed, laciniæ or pendent pieces made by slashing the skirt of a garment; hence, any hanging rugged or torn piece; also, any end or rag of ribbon or the like.
1402. Pol. Poems (Rolls), II. 69. Of suche wide clothing, tateris and tagges, it hirtith myn hert hevyly.
c. 1500. Rowlis Cursing, 135, in Laing, Anc. Poet. Scotl. Ruffy Ragmen [a devil] with his taggis Sall ryfe thair sinfull saule in raggis.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxvi. 115. Thae tarmegantis, with tag and tatter, Ffull lowd in Ersche begowth to clatter.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 313. The skyrtes of his goune All pounced in cuttes and tagges.
1840. Thackeray, Paris Sk. Bk. (1872), 7. Crumpled tags of ribbon.
1884. St. James’s Gaz., 10 May, 6/1. The tags of drapery and other accessories.
1889. Cornh. Mag., Feb., 124. With tags of ribbon sticking out in unexpected places.
2. A small pendent piece or part hanging from, or attached more or less loosely to the main body of anything. With numerous specific applications, e.g.
a. A matted lock of wool on a sheep; a tag-lock; a twisted or matted lock of hair. b. A shred of animal tissue. c. A shred of metal in a casting: see quot. d. A final curl, twirl, or flourish added to a letter, sometimes used as a mark of contraction. e. fig. An appendage; the tail-end (of any proceeding).
a. c. 1640. J. Smyth, Lives Berkeleys (1883), I. 157. What money was … made by sale of the locks, belts and tags of Sheep.
1888. Harper’s Mag., June, 137/2. Her reddish-brown hair, which grew in a fringe below her crown, was plaited into small tags or tails.
b. 1724. Ramsay, Health, 186. Bones corrupt and bare, Through ulcerated tags of muscles stare.
1897. J. Hutchinson, Arch. Surg., VIII. No. 31. 214. Under atropine the pupils dilated, but shewed numerous tags of adhesion.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., III. 716. They [adhesions] are then seen as filamentous tags on the outside of the intestine. Ibid. (1899), VII. 612. A small tag of fibrin from the valve.
c. 1863. Lyell, Antiq. Man, ii. 10. Some of the moulds in which the bronze instruments were cast, and ‘tags’ as they are called, of bronze, which are formed in the hole through which the fused metal was poured.
d. 1867. Furnivall, Percy Fol., I. 18, note. To many of the final d’s is a tag, which often means nothing, and often means s.
e. 1703. Steele, Tender Husb., I. i. Seem to have come into the World only to be Taggs in the Pedigree of a Wealthy House.
1882. Holland, Logic & Life (1885), 317. Death is but the tag of this life.
3. A point of metal or other hard substance at the end of a lace, string, strap, or the like, primarily used to facilitate its insertion through an eyelet-hole, as in a boot-lace or stay-lace, but when externally visible often made ornamental, as on the ‘points’ in use before buttons; an aglet.
(The first two quots. are of doubtful sense.)
[1501–2. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., II. 33. Item, for taggis to ane Franch sadill and mending of it xij d. Ibid. (1507), III. 270. Item, for taggis, bukkilles, and small graith to thaim, xv. s.]
1570. Levins, Manip., 10/19. Ye Tag of a poynt, ferrétrum.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, Vn fer d’aiguillette, a tagge.
1592. Lyly, Gallathea, V. i. 70. Thy Maister could make silver pottes of tagges of poynts.
1648. Gage, West Ind., 56. With long silver or golden Tags hanging down before.
a. 1734. North, Exam., III. viii. § 15 (1740), 593. Now comes the Tag to this fine Lace.
1832. Babbage, Econ. Manuf., iv. (ed. 3), 31. The simple art of making the tags of boot-laces.
1861. Wright, Ess. Archæol., I. vii. 133. The object … is part of the metal tag at the end of the belt.
b. fig.
c. 1572. Gascoigne, Fruites Warre, lxi. Is witte nowe wente so wandring from thy minde? Are all thy points so voide of Reasons taggs?
1611. Middleton, Roaring Girl, III. i. Here’s the point [Draws her sword] That I untruss; ’t has but one tag, ’t will serve though To tie up a rogue’s tongue.
† c. Phrases. To hold tag, to keep a person engaged in conversation: cf. to buttonhole. To a tag, to the minutest point, exactly; cf. to a T. Obs.
1567. Drant, Horace, Epist., V. C vij. Scotfree we may hould tagge In frendly chat this sommers night.
1679. V. Alsop, Melius Inquir., Introd. 20. To hang on a string only with those who jump in with our own Points to a Tag.
1682. N. O., Boileau’s Lutrin, IV. 318. At Trent, when Concord in a Bag Came Post from Rome, they hit it to a Tag!
4. An ornamental pendant; a tassel; a ribbon bearing a jewel, etc.
1570. Levins, Manip., 10/20. Ye Tag of a purse, appendix.
1686. Lond. Gaz., No. 2132/4. Lost…, a black laced Palatin with Diamond Tags upon black Ribon.
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), I. 230. The first lady has tags of a particular form, exactly like those on the dress of my duchess of Suffolk.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, vi. Our good child … passed in review all her gowns, fichus, tags, bobbins, laces, silk stockings, and fallals.
1890. Spectator, 14 June, 834/2. The sculptor … has filled up part of the arch with long heavy tassels hanging from the saddle-cloth. Throughout the work there seems to be an excess of tag and small decoration.
b. pl. A footman’s shoulder-knots.
1837. J. Morier, Abel Allnutt, xxx. 175. A stout footman staggering under a long cane and matted tags, and with difficulty waddling in his stiff plushes.
1844. Dickens, Mart. Chuz., ix. With such great tags upon his liveried shoulder.
5. A catkin of a tree. rare.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, I. xv. § 2. 17. The catkins or tags which grow on nut trees and aller trees.
1878. Mrs. Stowe, Poganuc P., xvii. 147. The tremulous tags of the birches and alders shook themselves gaily out in the woods.
6. The tip of the tail of an animal, esp. when distinct in colour or otherwise; the tail-piece of an angler’s fly. (Much earlier in TAGGED a. 3.)
1681. Chetham, Angler’s Vade-m., xxxv. § 1 (1689), 222. Some Red warp’d in for the tag of the Tail.
1787. Best, Angling (ed. 2), 106.
1863. Kingsley, Water-Bab., i. 37. A great brown sharp-nosed creature with a white tag to her brush.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, xiii. (1880), 472. Tie on the tag, which is usually a bit of tinsel.
1886. Field, 27 Feb., 268/1. The fox … gets the credit of being a vixen; but his snowy tag has only to be seen in order to dispel that notion.
1902. Encycl. Brit., XXV. 449/1. Two of the best grayling flies are a very small apple-green dun and the red tag.
7. The strip of parchment bearing the pendent seal of a deed.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. xv. (Roxb.), 21/1. A writt sealed vp, haueing two taggs or Labells Or, in a feild Gules.
1872. C. Innes, Lect. Scotch Leg. Antiq., v. 235. A small piece of the seal shall stick at the tag of the brief.
1887. J. B. Sheppard, in Lit. Cantuar. (Rolls), I. 341, note. The originals have now both lost their seals, although the slits for the tags remain.
8. A tab or tie-label attached by one end to a package, to luggage, etc.; also, a label pinned on as a badge, etc. Orig. and chiefly U. S.
1864. Webster, Tag … 2. Any slight appendage…: specifically, a direction card or label.
1891. Cent. Dict., Tag … 2 (c). A strip of leather, parchment, strong paper, or the like, loose at one end, and secured to a box, bag, or parcel, to receive a written address or label.
1908. Times, 26 Dec., 10/2. A new system of street collecting for public charities by means of tags or labels,… tried at San Francisco recently on behalf of the Children’s Hospital…. The advent of ‘tag day’ is well advertised. Mod. Price List, Tags with strings in packets Extra large tags with ruled lines.
b. Sometimes applied to a tab or loop by which a coat or the like is hung up.
9. Something appended or added to a writing or speech, esp. by way of ornament or improvement, e.g., the moral of a fable, etc.
a. 1734. North, Exam., II. v. § 74 (1740), 360. To avoid the Fastidium of noting all the Author’s Tags joined to his Relations of this Time.
1872. Minto, Eng. Prose Lit., II. 134 A tag of statistics is very chilling.
1874. L. Stephen, Hours in Library (1892), II. v. 151. [Massinger] is fond of adding little moral tags … to the end of his plays.
1885. Manch. Exam., 13 Oct., 4/7. Each paragraph … would serve … as a tag by way of peroration to a debating club harangue.
b. A brief and usually familiar quotation added for special effect; a much-used or trite quotation.
1702. S. Parker, trans. Cicero’s De Finibus, I. 5. With Tags of Metre translated from the Greek … we can dispense well enough.
1866. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, xvii. I don’t talk in tags of Latin, which might be learned by a schoolmaster’s footboy.
1893. Jessopp, Stud. Recluse, vii. 225. Putting in tags and rags of French … to conceal poverty of style.
1897. Sat. Rev., 18 Dec., 701. The Latin tag holds: ‘Quem Deus vult perdere, prius dementat.’
1902. Buchan, Watcher by Thresh., 175. Stories from Procopius and tags of Roman law.
c. The refrain or catch of a song or poem; the last words of a speech in a play, etc.
1793. H. Walpole, Lett. to Agnes Berry, 18 Oct. They have brought to my recollection the tag of an old song.
1815. Scott, Lett. to Miss J. Baillie, 12 Nov., in Lockhart. I am … anxious to store the heads of my young damsels with something better than the tags of rhymes.
1830. H. Lee, Mems. Manager, II. viii. 104. The tag; which is the technical phrase for the last lines of any play.
1876. N. Amer. Rev., CXXIII. 480. And, to borrow the tag of an old story, ‘There—my lord—I leave you.’
† 10. The rabble, the lowest class of people. Obs.
1607. Shaks., Cor., III. i. 248. Will you hence, Before the Tagge returne?
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Tag, the rabble.
† b. esp. in collocation with RAG sb.1 3 b: Tag and rag, a contemptuous expression for all the components of the rabble, of the lower classes, or of an assemblage of people held in small esteem; all and any, every man Jack, everybody, Tom, Dick, and Harry. Obs. See also TAG-RAG.
c. 1535. Bygod, Impropriations (K.O.). Your fathers were wyse, both tagge and rag.
1553–4. Machyn, Diary (Camden), 50. Huntyd, and kyllyd tage and rage with honds and swords.
1566. J. Partridge, Plasidas, 1041. To walles they go, both tagge and ragge, their Citie to defende.
1610. Cooke, Pope Joan, in Harl. Misc. (Malh.), IV. 95. That you have made Levites … of the scurvy and scabbed, of the lowest of the people, tag and rag.
a. 1626. Bp. Andrewes, Serm. (1641), 181. This is the time when all hypocrites, atheists, tag and rag come.
18[?]. Southey, Devil’s Walk, xxiii. With music of fife and drum, And a consecrated flag, And shout of tag and rag, And march of rank and file.
1809. W. Irving, Knickerb., VI. ix. (1861), 231. Every tag having his rag at his side, to finish his pipe … and laugh at his flights of immortal dulness.
11. In servants’ vocabulary: A lower servant.
1857. T. Wright, Dict., Tag, one who assists another at work in a secondary character. Northampt.
1860. Athenæum, 17 Nov., 664. Servants … with their own distinction of ranks, the ‘Pugs’ and the ‘Tags.’
12. A disease in sheep; = tag-sore (13): see quots.
(Cf. TAGGED 5 a, which is evidenced much earlier.)
1741. Compl. Fam.-Piece, III. (ed. 3), 494. Of the Tag or Belt in Sheep. Sheep are said to be tagged or belt, when they have a Flux, or continued running of Ordure, which lighting upon the Tail, the Heat of the Dung, by its scalding, breeds the Scab.
1756. Compl. Body Husb., 694. The Tag is situated in the inner part of the Tail; it consists of Scabs and Sores.
1807. Essays Highland Soc., III. 434. A disease … affecting the tail, has been denominated Tag.
13. attrib. and Comb., as tag-like adj.; tag alder, U.S. local, name for some species of alder, esp. Alnusincana, A. serrulata, and (on the Pacific coast) A. rubra; tag-belt, = tag-sore; tag-boat, U.S. local, a boat towed behind a small steamer or sailing vessel; a tender, cockboat; tag-end, the last part or remnant of anything; a remaining scrap or fragment; = FAG-END; tag-fastener, -holder, a device for attaching tags or labels; tag-lock, a matted lock of sheep’s wool, esp. one of those about the hinder parts; = DAG-LOCK; tag-machine, a machine for making tags or labels; tag-needle, a needle for attaching labels to bags, bales, etc.; tag-sore, pustular excoriation of a sheep’s tail set up by the irritation of diarrhœal flux; tag-tail, a worm with a yellow tag or tail; also, a parasite, a hanger-on; tag-wool, wool made from tag-locks; tag-worm, = tag-tail.
1891. Lancet, 3 Oct., 772/1. *Tag alder.
1832. Boucher, Gloss. Obs. & Prov. Wds., *Tagbelt, excoriation brought on by diarrhoea.
1893. Sarah Jewett, Deephaven, 128. I got into the schooner’s *tag-boat quick.
1818. Coleridge, Diss. Sc. Method, ii. 40. Not made up of miserable clap-traps, and the *tag-ends of mawkish Novels, and endless sermonizing.
1900. Westm. Gaz., 8 Nov., 3/2. The mania for gold embroidering and braiding and the gold tag ends of present-day fashions.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 160. Ragged sloughy material, which often projects in *tag-like pieces into the abscess cavity.
1615. T. Adams, Lycanthropy, 17. They will plucke our fleeces; leave us nothing but the *tag-locks.
1884. Century Mag., Feb., 519/2. The tag-locks and pulled wool were mostly worked up in the … small factories into stocking-yarn [etc.] for the farmer’s use.
1828. Webster, *Tag-sore, a disease in sheep. Cycl.
1653. Walton, Angler, iv. 95. There are … divers other kindes of worms … as the marsh-worm, the *tag-tail,… the gilt-tail.
1681. Chetham, Angler’s Vade-m., iv. § 5 (1689), 32. Tag-tail is a worm of … a pale Flesh colour, with a yellow Tag on his Tail.
1875. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, I. V. xi. § 3. 312. The Tagtail is common in good strong clays which are well-manured for turnips, mangold-wurzel, &c.
1864. Webster, Tag-tail … person who attaches himself to another against the will of the latter; a dependent; a sycophant; a parasite.
1602. Carew, Cornwall, 26. His baites are flies and *Tag-wormes, which the Cornish English terme Angle-touches.
1839. Hofland, Brit. Angler’s Man., ii. 10. The little gilt-tail, or tag-worm, Is of a pale yellow towards the tail.
