shag n.1
1. (also shagg) an act of sexual intercourse, thus attrib.
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | ‘Plenipotentiary’ in Merry Muses of Caledonia (1965) 202: The next for a shag came the new Yankee flag; / Tho’ lanky and scraggy in figure. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Drury Lane Jrnl 16 Aug. 16: I always try to take a ‘shag’ before the play begins. | |
| Crim.-Con. Gaz. 22 Sept. 35/1: Whelled into Massa Brandon’s cigar-shop in de Strand for half-an-hour — berry good backey indeed — dey do say capital shag had here. | |
| ‘The Female Tobacconist’ in Rambler’s Flash Songster 14: Will you come for some shagg, I don’t wish to brag, / But I keeps the best shagg in town. | |
| ‘Female Tobacconist’ in Gentleman’s Spicey Songster 42: Then he pull’d out his pipe, and said you gay slut, / Before I have your shag, I’ll see your broad cut. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Gleaner (Manchester, NH) 21 Oct. n.p.: George Stepehens has no more than four cents to give Miss Mary An Shag? next time offer her a quarter of a dollar — cheap enough. | |
| ‘The Idiot Boy’ in Rakish Rhymer (1917) 33: The Parson’s shag and Dick’s returns now made the parties equal. | |
| Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 166: ‘Shag’ is sometimes used also in reference to sexual intercourse, both as noun and verb, and comes from 18th century English slang. | |
| ‘These Foolish Things’ in (1979) 212: That rusty bedstead we had our first shags on / The week of silence when you had the rags on. | |
| All Night Stand 45: Lighting up your Player’s [...] after you’ve had a shag. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | (con. 1940s–60s) ‘Cats on the Rooftops’ in Snatches and Lays 26: The whale is a mammal, as everybody knows, / He takes two days to have a shag. | |
| West in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 126: Nothing to show except a rancid shag / and wages short. | |
| Trainspotting 130: Just being here reminds both of them how long it has been since they’ve had a shag. | |
| Urban Grimshaw 26: If you got in [...] you were guaranteed a toot and a shag. | |
| Apples (2023) 129: I thought it was pretty cool him and Liz had a decent shag life. | |
| Guardian Family 30 Apr. 8/1: I was the result of a shag between a young Catholic guy and a Protestant Irish woman. | |
| Tales of the Honey Badger [ebook] To say I like my tucker is akin to saying rabbits don’t mind a shag. | |
| Times Times2 6 Jan. 🌐 At £13,000 for a celebrity to show you their tits and offer you a shag, that is, in fact, ‘a bargain’. | |
| Secret Hours 167: ‘I’m starting to feel like this is a lot to pay for one stray shag’. |
2. a person, in general use.
| Gleaner (Manchester, NH) 1 July n.p.: Old shags struting [sic] about town prating about the Gleaner. | |
| Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 8 Oct. n.p.: There are four academy shags [...] that I think need a little showing up. | |
| letter 18 Jan. in Leader (2000) 36: He likes all those shags like Pickarso. | |
| letter 18 Oct. in Leader (2000) 406: An old shag at my side telling me about Rotary. | |
| letter 12 Feb. Experience (2000) 86: I go to an old shag called Mr Bethell. |
3. (US teen) a party where pre-adolescents experiment sexually.
| , | | DAS 461/1: shag 1 [taboo] A party or group of boys and girls, motivated by sexual curiosity, in which looking at and touching the sexual parts of the opposite sex is as important as any intercourse that may result. Fairly common use by children from about 10 to 13 years of age. Prob. since c. 1935. |
4. a person, usu. a woman but in 1990s+ also a man, seen simply as a sexual object; thus good shag, lousy shag.
| White with Wire Wheels (1973) 159: Shirl the Shag? | |
| Scully 171: She’s a regular, y’Mam. [...] A good shag for her age. Ripe. Juicy. | |
| Traveller’s Tool 25: As a shag she might score zero, but she’s ace at washing, ironing, and keeping a man’s tucker warm. | |
| Filth 44: She’s a fuckin wee shag this lassie. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Cartoon City 75: Everyone knows that Nice Girls are lousy shags. | |
| Soho 80: She was a terrific shag but the fact was, been there, done that, got the lovebites. | |
| Fleshmarket Close (2005) 53: [graffito in ladies’ toilet] Sean’s a shag. | |
| (con. 1980s) Skagboys 232: That young shag he’d brought to their mother’s birthday party. | |
 | theculturetrip.com ‘Guide to London Slang 10 Jan. 🌐 Shag – someone you want to have dirty sex with, normally in the work toilets. | |
| Empty Wigs (t/s) 152: [of a boy] [A]nother contender, a slutty shag called Halfhead. |
5. (N.Z. prison) a prison officer [? link to fuck n. (3)].
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 163/1: shag n. a prison officer. |
In compounds
nothing at all.
| Philadelphia Dly News (PA) 14 Apr. 18/2: I don’t know sweet shag all about Canada. | |
| Out After Dark 30: They know shag all! |
a womanizer, a sexual athlete.
| Marabou Stork Nightmares 110: Tony was a fuckin total shag artist. Even though he had a flat in Gorgie, he’d still come doon tae oors [...] tae fuck aw the local slags. | |
| ‘The Clinton Affair’ on Travels in Nihilon at University of Southampton 🌐 Unfortunately for humanity on this occasion fate has dished up a pusillanimous shag-artist with a designer hair-do. |
1. (orig. milit.) a prostitute.
| All Bull 28: Want me? What d’you think I am, lad, an old shag-bag? | |
| DSUE (8th edn) 1040/1: since ca. 1930. |
2. (orig. Aus.) a general pej. term for a woman; sexual availability is presumed, but not automatic.
| Arvon Foundation Poetry Competition 45: Patricia Rorke’s a shagbag. | |
| Disaffection 100: Heh you Hen Broon, ya fucking dickie ye! Your maw’s a fucking shagbag. | |
| Happy Like Murderers 70: Shagbag. Slut. She got this from her brother [...] when she saw him. |
3. (US) the vagina.
| at www.asstr.org 🌐 Cherry would sit for hours and squeeze her shag bag tight, all the while watching in the mirror to see what it looked like. |
see under -magnet sfx
an apartment or room where one can bring a casual sex partner.
| www.thepantsman.com 🌐 We’re too tightarsed to pay for a communal shagpad in one of these overpriced joints. |
a bed.
| Get Your Cock Out 132: She [...] couldn’t remember how she had ever ended up in this fat snoring pig’s grey sheeted shagpit. |
a van or car used primarily for sex.
| Aus. Lang. (2nd edn) 294: shaggin’ waggon, a car which a male uses for the purpose of picking up a female companion. | |
| Don’t Point That Thing at Me (1991) 29: A [...] baronial wedding present and mobile shagging station. | |
| Tharunka (Kensington, NSW) 15 Sept. 2: Young men and women in shag’n wagons at the Drive-in become (in a hurry) married couples. | |
| Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 98/2: shag wagon/shagging wagon a van or station wagon customised for comfortable shagging or sexual intercourse. | |
| Lingo 93: shaggin’ wagon means a motor vehicle, usually a station wagon used for sexual intercourse and also known as a sin bin or fuck truck. | |
| www.thepantsman.com 🌐 Australia’s driving future: The Holden Shaggin’ Wagon. | |
| ‘Boner McPharlin’s Moll’ in Turning (2005) 254: That kind of car was trouble. It was a sin-bin, a shaggin-wagon, a slut-hut. | |
| Artefacts of the Dead [ebook] ‘Danny Gillon drives a white van.’ [...] ‘He does too . . . Calls it his shagging wagon’. | |
| Good Girl Stripped Bare 21: Inside I can see fluffy dice dangling from the mirror, and orange shagpile on the seats. Hmmm, must be why it’s called a ‘shaggin’ wagon’, I think. | |
| Young Team 120: Fuckin spot on fur ma first wee shaggin wagon. |
In phrases
enjoying sexual activity.
| Joe Country [ebook] ‘I assumed she was on the shag’. |