scrag

[skrag] /skræg/
noun
1.
a lean or scrawny person or animal.
2.
the lean end of a neck of veal or mutton.
3.
Slang. the neck of a human being.
verb (used with object), scragged, scragging.
4.
Slang. to wring the neck of; hang; garrote.
5.
Metallurgy. to test (spring steel) by bending.
Origin
1535-45; obscurely akin to crag2
British Dictionary definitions for scrag

scrag

/skræɡ/
noun
1.
a thin or scrawny person or animal
2.
the lean end of a neck of veal or mutton
3.
(informal) the neck of a human being
verb (transitive) scrags, scragging, scragged
4.
(informal) to wring the neck of; throttle
Word Origin
C16: perhaps variant of crag; related to Norwegian skragg, German Kragen collar
Word Origin and History for scrag
n.

1540s, "lean person or animal, a raw-bones;" perhaps from a Scandinavian source (cf. Norwegian skragg "a lean person;" dialectal Swedish skraka "a great, dry tree; a long, lean man," skragge "old and torn thing," Danish skrog "hull of a ship, carcass," Icelandic skröggr, a nickname of the fox); perhaps from root of shrink.

Slang definitions & phrases for scrag

scrag 2

noun

An unattractive woman; dog

[1940s+ Students; probably fr hag reinforced by the name of the ugly Scraggs family in the comic strip ''Li'l Abner'' and possibly by earlier slang, ''a raw-bones; a skinny person,'' found by 1542]