shag

¹

[ shag ]

noun

1. rough, matted hair, wool, or the like.
2. a mass of this.
3. a hairdo in which hair is cut in slightly uneven, overlapping layers downward from the crown, sometimes with the hair at the front and back hairlines left longer or wispier than the rest.
4. a cloth with a nap, as of silk or a heavy or rough woolen fabric.
5. a rug or carpet with a thick, shaggy pile.
6. a coarse tobacco cut into fine shreds.

verb (used with or without object)

, shagged, shag·ging.

1. to make or become rough or shaggy.

shag

²

[ shag ]

noun

1. a small cormorant, Phalacrocorax aristotelis, of European coasts.
2. any of several small cormorants of the Southern Hemisphere.

shag

³

[ shag ]

verb (used without object)

, shagged, shag·ging.

1. to dance a step with a vigorous hopping on each foot.

noun

1. this dance step.

shag

⁴

[ shag ]

verb (used with object)

, shagged, shag·ging.

1. to chase or follow after; pursue.
2. to go after and bring back; fetch.
3. Baseball. to retrieve and throw back (fly balls) in batting practice.

shag

⁵

[ shag ]

verb (used with or without object)

1. to have sexual intercourse (with): Sorry, but I don’t shag with just anyone.

   He was caught shagging his friend’s sister.

   Sorry, but I don’t shag with just anyone.

noun

1. an act or instance of sexual intercourse:

   It’s been a while since I’ve had a shag.

2. a sexual partner, or a person considered as a sexual object:

   I bet she’d be a good shag.

shag

¹

/ ʃæɡ /

noun

1. a cormorant, esp the green cormorant ( Phalacrocorax aristotelis )
2. like a shag on a rock slang.
   abandoned and alone

shag

²

/ ʃæɡ /

noun

1. a matted tangle, esp of hair, wool, etc
2. a napped fabric, usually a rough wool
3. shredded coarse tobacco

verb

1. tr to make shaggy

shag

³

/ ʃæɡ /

verb

1. to have sexual intercourse with (a person)
2. troften foll byout; usually passive to exhaust; tire

noun

1. an act of sexual intercourse

Usage

Though still likely to cause offence to many older or more conservative people, this word has lost a lot of its shock value of late. It seems to have a jocular, relaxed connotation, which most of the other words in this field do not. No doubt its acceptability has been accelerated by its use in the title of an Austin Powers film. Interestingly, though advertisements for the film caused a large number of complaints to the British Advertising Standards Authority, they were not upheld

Other Words From

• shaglike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of shag¹

First recorded before 1050; Old English sceacga “(wooly) hair” (not recorded in Middle English ); cognate with Old Norse skegg “beard”; akin to shaw

Origin of shag²

First recorded before 1560–70; perhaps special use of shag ¹, applied first to bird's crest

Origin of shag³

First recorded in 1350–1400; perhaps variant of shog

Origin of shag⁴

First recorded in 1930–35; origin uncertain; shack ²

Origin of shag⁵

First recorded in 1780–90; origin unknown

Word History and Origins

Origin of shag¹

C16: special use of shag ¹, with reference to its crest

Origin of shag²

Old English sceacga; related to sceaga shaw ¹, Old Norse skegg beard, skagi tip, skōgr forest

Origin of shag³

C20: of unknown origin

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. shag ass, Slang: Vulgar. to depart, especially hurriedly; get going.

Example Sentences

Milioti pushed, for instance, for her hair to evolve from prim and pulled back into the sexy shag she has by the end.

From Los Angeles Times

In 2018, there were also claims that Australians tried to rig the contest in favour of the shag - a species of cormorant.

From BBC

Initial figures suggest the shag population is down by 75% on the inner islands, but there is some hope.

From BBC

There is good news for some of the seabirds that breed in the UK, with the shag moving from the red list to the amber and the black guillemot from the amber to the green.

From BBC

“Obviously it’s still fun to play in All-Star Games. But when you have the joy of him coming and shagging balls and stuff like that. To see their faces, that’s what makes it fun.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• only
• unattended

About This Word

What else does shag mean?

Shag means “to have sex” with someone in British slang.

Where does shag come from?

Shag is a much older slang term for “having sex” than you think. Evidence for the term dates back to the 1680s. It is probably related to the word shake. (Use your imagination for the connection.)

As a verb, shag means “to have sex” (e.g., I shagged her last night). By the 1780s, it evolved into a noun for the act of copulation itself (e.g., We had a shag in the barn).

Come the late 1960s, a sexually attractive person was described as a shag. This was often said of women, but also sometimes men (e.g., He was a good shag, but he’s not that bright).

Many people outside the UK learned shag thanks to the hit 1999 comedy film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me starring Mike Myers. The title is a play on the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).

Shag—describing something rough or matted, as in carpet—has a different root than the sexual shag. It is a 16th-century word, possibly from an Old English term for “rough, matted hair or wool.”

How is shag used in real life?

Referring to “sex” as shagging is closely associated with British slang.

When used as a verb, shag is conjugated just like any other English verb. As noted, shag can also be a noun describing the act of copulation or referring to someone as a sexual object.

The tone of shag is dirty and definitely informal, though not quite vulgar.

Note

This content is not meant to be a formal definition of this term. Rather, it is an informal summary that seeks to provide supplemental information and context important to know or keep in mind about the term’s history, meaning, and usage.