fag

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a tiring or tedious task; (British informal) a cigarette

   Carrying the boxes upstairs was a real fag.

Of uncertain origin; the verb 'to tire' is attested from the 16th century, possibly a variant of flag ('to droop, weaken'). The 'cigarette' sense is a 19th-century shortening of fag-end ('the frayed end').

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