Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Rag \Rag\, n. [OE. ragge, probably of Scand, origin; cf. Icel.
   r["o]gg rough hair. Cf. {Rug}, n.]
   1. A piece of cloth torn off; a tattered piece of cloth; a
      shred; a tatter; a fragment.

            Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers,
            tossed, And fluttered into rags.      --Milton.

            Not having otherwise any rag of legality to cover
            the shame of their cruelty.           --Fuller.

   2. pl. Hence, mean or tattered attire; worn-out dress.

            And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm.
                                                  --Dryden.

   3. A shabby, beggarly fellow; a ragamuffin.

            The other zealous rag is the compositor. --B.
                                                  Jonson.

            Upon the proclamation, they all came in, both tag
            and rag.                              --Spenser.

   4. (Geol.) A coarse kind of rock, somewhat cellular in
      texture.

   5. (Metal Working) A ragged edge.

   6. A sail, or any piece of canvas. [Nautical Slang]

            Our ship was a clipper with every rag set. --Lowell.

   {Rag bolt}, an iron pin with barbs on its shank to retain it
      in place.

   {Rag carpet}, a carpet of which the weft consists of narrow
      of cloth sewed together, end to end.

   {Rag dust}, fine particles of ground-up rags, used in making
      papier-mach['e] and wall papers.

   {Rag wheel}.
      (a) A chain wheel; a sprocket wheel.
      (b) A polishing wheel made of disks of cloth clamped
          together on a mandrel.

   {Rag wool}, wool obtained by tearing woolen rags into fine
      bits, shoddy.