jag

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a sharp projection or rough point on an edge or surface

   A jag of rock tore the climber's sleeve.

2. 2
   noun

   a short period of excessive activity, emotion, drinking, or drug use

   He went on a late-night spending jag.

3. 3
   verb

   to cut or make an edge into sharp projections

   The broken blade jagged the edge of the cloth.

Simplified etymology

Jag originally meant “to stab” or “to pierce” and is related to jog, whose earliest sense was “to nudge” or “to shake.” The verb jag still means “to prick” in parts of Scotland and northern England.

Circa 1597; originally "load of broom or furze", variant of British English dialectal chag (“tree branch; branch of broom or furze”), from Old English ċeacga (“broom, furze”), from Proto-Germanic *kagô (compare dialectal German Kag (“stump, cabbage, stalk”), Swedish dialect kage (“stumps”), Norwegian dialect kage (“low bush”), of unknown origin.

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