rag

Universal Words noun, verb noun 1 [C,U] a piece of old, often torn, cloth used especially for cleaning things: I wiped the window with a damp rag. * Use a piece of old rag. seealsoGLADRAGS 2 [C] (informal, usually disapproving) a newspaper that you believe to be of low quality: the local rag 3 a piece of RAGTIME music 4 (BrE) [U,C] an event or a series of events organized by students each year to raise money for charity: rag week IDIOMS in rags wearing very old torn clothes: The children were dressed in rags. (from) rags to riches from being extremely poor to being very rich: a rags-to-riches story * Hers was a classic tale of rags to riches. lose your rag (BrE, informal) to get angry moreatREDadj. verb (-gg-) [VN] ~ sb (about sth) (old-fashioned, BrE) to laugh at and/or play tricks on sb SYNTEASE