fag 1 |fag|Brit.
noun
1 [ in sing. ] informal a tiring or unwelcome task: it's too much of a fag to drive all the way there and back again.
2 a junior pupil at a public school who does minor chores for a senior pupil.
verb ( fags, fagging, fagged ) [ no obj. ] informal
work hard, especially at a tedious task: he didn't have to fag away in a lab to get the right answer.
• (of a public-school pupil) do minor chores for a senior pupil: the lower boys in each house fagged for members of the Library.
ORIGIN mid 16th cent. (as a verb in the sense ‘grow weary’): of unknown origin. Compare with flag4.
fag 2 |fag|
nounN. Amer. informal, derogatory
a male homosexual.
DERIVATIVES
faggy adjective
ORIGIN 1920s: short for faggot ( sense 3 of the noun).
fag 3 |faɡ|
nounBrit. informal
a cigarette.
ORIGIN late 19th cent.: elliptically from fag end.