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1. A small piece of cloth
   - shred, tag, tag end, tatter
    
2. Music with a syncopated melody (usually for the piano)
   - ragtime
    
3. [informal] Newspaper with half-size pages
   - tabloid, sheet
    
4. [Brit] A boisterous practical joke (especially by college students)
    
5. [Brit] A week at British universities during which side-shows and processions of floats are organized to raise money for charities
   - rag week [Brit]

1. Harass persistently in cruel or annoying way
   "The children ragged the stuttering teacher";
   - torment, bedevil, crucify, dun, frustrate
    
2. Cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
   "Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear really rags me";
   - annoy, get to, bother, get at [informal], irritate, rile, nark [Brit, slang], nettle, gravel [US], vex, chafe, devil, tick off [informal], roil [N. Amer]
    
3. (music) play in ragtime
   "rag that old tune"
    
4. Deliberately provoke by mocking or poking fun, often in an aggressive manner
   "The children ragged the new teacher";
   - tease, razz [N. Amer, informal], cod [Brit, informal], bait, taunt, twit [informal], rally, ride [N. Amer, informal], wind up [Brit, informal]
    
5. [informal] Censure severely or angrily
   "The deputy ragged the Prime Minister";
   - call on the carpet [US, informal], take to task, rebuke, trounce, lecture, reprimand, jaw [informal], dress down [informal], call down [informal], scold, chide, berate, bawl out [informal], remonstrate, chew out [N. Amer, informal], chew up [N. Amer, informal], have words, lambaste, lambast, ream [N. Amer, informal], wig [Brit, informal]
    
6. (mining) break into lumps before sorting
   "rag ore"

Derived forms: rags, ragged, ragging

Type of: bemock, beset, break up, chevvy [non-standard], chevy, chivvy, chivy, criticise [Brit], criticize, damn [informal], dance music, displease, fragment, fragmentise [Brit], fragmentize, harass, harry, hassle [informal], hebdomad, knock [informal], mock, molest, newspaper, paper, pick apart, piece of cloth, piece of material, plague, play, practical joke, provoke, spiel, week

Encyclopedia: Rag, Bush and All