sag

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a shape that sags

   There was a sag resting in the chair to my left.

2. 2
   verb

   to droop, sink, or settle from or as if from pressure or loss of tautness

   I saw the kid's pants sagging and I became wary of the fact that they might drop to the floor at any second now.

3. 3
   verb

   to cause to sag

   I sagged the fabric over the chair.

4. 4
   noun

   A place where the surface (of a seat, the earth, etc) sinks or droops, like a depression or a dip in a ridge.

   a mass of igneous rock […] shown as a semicircular area of shonkinite exposed in the west wall of the sag. From the valley below, it appears as a dark cliff, perhaps 100 feet in height and a few hundred yards long.

5. 5
   verb

   To sink, in the middle, by its weight or under applied pressure, below a horizontal line or plane.

   A line or cable supported by its ends sags, even if it is tightly drawn.

6. 6
   verb

   To lean, give way, or settle from a vertical position.

   A building may sag one way or another.

7. 7
   verb

   To lose firmness, elasticity, vigor, or a thriving state; to sink; to droop; to flag; to bend; to yield, as the mind or spirits, under the pressure of care, trouble, doubt, or the like; to be unsettled or unbalanced.

   The mind I sway by, and the heart I bear, / Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear.

8. 8
   noun

   Alternative form of saag.

   The dal tarka (£5) is made from whole yellow split peas, while sag aloo (£5) brings potatoes in a rich and oily spinach puree.

Etymology

From late Middle English saggen, probably of North Germanic/Scandinavian/Old Norse origin, akin to Old Norse sokkva (“to sink”), from a denasalized derivative of Proto-Germanic *sinkwaną (“to sink”). Compare Norwegian Nynorsk sagga (“move slowly”)); probably akin to Danish and Norwegian sakke, Swedish sacka, Icelandic sakka. Compare also Dutch zakken and German sacken (from Low German).