noun

shag

SHAG

noun

A tangled or shaggy mass of hair or fibres, or a thick, rough carpet pile.

"The old lounge had a brown shag carpet from the seventies."

Coarse, shredded tobacco.

"He rolled his own cigarettes from a tin of shag."

A cormorant-like seabird found along European coasts (Phalacrocorax aristotelis).

"A shag stood drying its wings on the rocks."

verb

To have sex with someone (crude slang).

"The tabloid claimed the pair had been shagging for months."

How to Use Shag

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishRough, shaggy hair or fibre; a type of loose tobacco; a seabird; or, in crude British slang, to have sex.

When to use it

The sexual sense is vulgar slang, mainly British — avoid it in formal or polite contexts.

Word Forms

more shag comparative, more shag comparative, shagged past tense, shagged past tense, shags plural, shags plural, shags plural, shags plural, shags plural, shags singular, shags singular, most shag superlative, most shag superlative

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Can you complete this real example?

The old lounge had a brown _____ carpet from the seventies.

Etymology

From Old English sceacga ("hair, wool"), related to "shake" and "shock".

Rhymes for shag

hag

See all rhymes for shag →