Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. clothes, usu. pl.

1830		Lytton Paul Clifford II 4: I be ’s slow about my work, but I does it thoroughly; so off with your rags, old un.
1834		‘Of All The Blowings On The Town’ in Flash Chaunter 5: I never can my Sal forsake, / If I can – d--n my rags O!
1835		‘Rampant Moll Was A Rum Old Mot’ in Secret Songster 4: He tipp’d her the dabs, and she off with her rags, / And both into bed vent they.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor III 250/1: I keep my old rags at home.
1867		R. Whiteing Mr Sprouts, His Opinions 20: Put yer rags on then, and we’ll be off.
1884		(con. c.1840) ‘Mark Twain’ Huckleberry Finn 17: I got into my old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free and satisfied.
c.1895		F. Norris Vandover and the Brute (1914) 79: I thought I’d blow myself for some rags.
1901		‘Hugh McHugh’ Down the Line 32: A somewhat demure looking Proposition in rainbow rags had been sampling the scenery.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 30: Dames all framed up in decollaty rags.
1906		‘O. Henry’ ‘The Caliph, Cupid and the Clock’ in Four Million (1915) 190: I carry a watch except when I’ve got my radiant rags on.
1912		D. Lowrie My Life in Prison 122: She took care o’ me [...] helped me buy some decent rags.
1918		C. Sandburg ‘Band Concert’ in Cornhuskers 🌐 Cowboy rags and nigger rages.
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 76: There was a grand jungle by a small, clean river where they boiled up their vermined clothes, or ‘rags’ as they are always called. [Ibid.] 119: You’ll have enough trouble come to you [...] without advertising for it with a loud suit of rags.
1931		A. Bontemps God Sends Sun. 40: It’s a Gawd’s shame you ain’t wearin them pretty rags instead o’ de ugly skates that live in there.
1940		D. Maurer Big Con 142: Never boast about your rags, but brag about your long cush.
1950		‘Hal Ellson’ Tomboy (1952) 137: Where ’d you think I was going in these rags?
1953		‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 292: Helping me pay for a couple of cheap rags.
1954		Hepster’s Dict. 7: Neat rags – Fine clothes.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 244: I’ll put on some fine rags tunight and make all those cats look like bums.
1970		A. Young Snakes (1971) 120: I’mo figger me out a way to get my drums packed and [...] get all my rags together and split.
1972		(con. 1960s) D. Goines Whoreson 195: I still had enough to get a few rags to wear.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 110: There is a large vocabulary that defines clothes in general – drapes, rags, pieces, threads, fronts, styles.
1985		J. Wambaugh Secrets of Harry Bright (1986) 112: I’m glad to see you boys’re wearing your golf rags.
1993		Tarantino & Avery Pulp Fiction [film script] 135: Yes, strippin’ off those bloody rags is absolutely necessary.
1999		Indep. Rev. 9 Aug. 1: Swathed in day-glo rags and wearing a microphone headset.

2. (US black) stylish, fashionable clothes.

1968		‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2 39: Rags, n. Attractive-looking clothes.
1977		Rolling Stone 22 Sept. 28: That man wears some rags!

3. (US Und.) clothing and insignia that indicate one’s membership of a (prison) gang.

1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 43: Rags also Colors Any clothing, bandanas, patches or insignias worn by gang members to indicate gang membership.
2008		ShortList (London) 22 May 32: A Crip’s loyalty isn’t to his country or with the marines. It’s with his ‘set’ – his fellow gang members [...] When they come home and shed that uniform they’re still going to put their rags back on.