Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. an unattractive woman.

[c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict. n.p.: Lamb, scragg of a withered old woman].
1913		Sport (Adelaide) 11 Oct. 4/2: I am glad to see you have turned the beer and the two Port scrags down.
1938		Reading (PA) Eagle 20 Mar. 7/2: When Joe College refers to the campus co-ed, it’s usually ‘chippie’ or ‘scrag’.
1984		Totally True Diaries of an Eighties Roller Queen 20 Feb. 🌐 Heather is such as [sic] scrag. She phoned and pretend she was Tracey F. Kerrie phoned her up and goes, ‘Ya big fat ugly scrag.’.
1993		B. Moore Lex. of Cadet Lang. 319: scrag [...] a woman, especially one who is ugly, sleazy, tartish.
2004		L. Redhead Peepshow [ebook] Two weeks of dark roots, I look like some kind of scrag.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 145: [She] stayed otherwise stupidly solid to watch the scrag advance.

2. (Aus.) an ill-kempt person.

1895		Coburg Leader (Vic.) 21 Sept. 4/2: He said he’d not ride second class, / With the other Coburg scrags.
1911		E. Dyson ‘The Rivals’ in Benno and Some of the Push 159: The lad what’s keepin’ co. with me ain’t got no use fer scrags.
1967		‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ in Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xxxix 4/4: scrag: A grubby person.
1993		Aus. Word Map 🌐 scrag An unkempt person of meagre means.

3. (Aus./N.Z.) anything considered inferior.

1910		Sun. Times (Perth) 29 May 2nd sect. 10/4: He won a Welter purse at Canning Park, and a race or two amongst ‘scrags’ in the country districts.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 180: scrag Anything inferior. [...] Derived from scragends, the poorest cuts of meat. Whaling term C19 for remnants, from British dialect word for useless leftovers. Possibly linked to ‘scrag’, neck. ANZ.