Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to make someone work hard.

1779		Mme D’Arblay Diary and Letters (1904) I 262: With hard fagging perhaps you might do that.
1816		W.T. Moncrieff All at Coventry I i: No old maid’s footman was ever more nagged and fagged.
1834		Marryat Peter Simple (1911) 13: Pon my soul I pity you: you’ll be fagged to death.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict. n.p.: Fag to tire, to weary, to ill-treat.

2. to work hard (in other than academic contexts).

1788		Mme D’Arblay Diary and Letters (1904) III 12: The rest of the day was all fagging.
1797		‘T.B. Junr.’ Pettyfogger Dramatized II v: Credulous is as able to work, as I am; let him fag as I do.
1827		Egan Anecdotes of the Turf, the Chase etc. 55: After six hours of hard fagging, he found himself in possession only of the mangled remains of a rabbit.
1841		‘Miseries of a Lord Mayor’ Dublin Comic Songster 278: His duties increasing, / He fags without ceasing.
1859		E. Eden Semi-Detached House (1979) 74: Having made Mrs. Hopkinson fag herself all over the house, to examine the attics, and the kitchen [...] and do all the heavy work of the business, she dismissed her with the blandest apologies.
1866		J. Greenwood Little Ragamuffin 83: However much I might be fagging about during the day, rest came with the evening.
1879		‘’Arry on the ’Igher Education of Women’ in Punch 5 Apr. in P. Marks (2006) 151: Our sisters and wives / Gets too fine for the fireside and faggin’.

3. to work hard academically.

1795		Gent.’s Mag. 20: How did ye toil, and fagg, and fume, and fret, / And — what the bashful muse would blush to say.
1803		‘A Pembrochian’ Gradus ad Cantabrigiam 60: Dee, the famous Mathematician, appears to have fagg’d as intensely as any man at Cambridge.
1827		W.T. Moncrieff Bashful Man I v: I fagged d—d hard at college.
1828		R. Barham ‘London University’ Ingoldsby Legends (1847) 76: And Gilchrist, the great Gentoo – / Professor, has a lot in town / Of Cockney boys, who fag Hindoo.
1837		‘The ‘Original’ Dragon’ Bentley’s Misc. Mar. 232: A topic for future historians to fag on.
1844		J.W. Kaye Peregrine Pultuney I 108: Fagging at Greek and Latin all his life.
1867		T. Carlyle Reminiscences (1887) II 285: He [had] been, for several continuous years, toiling and fagging at a Collective Edition of his Works.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 28 Feb. 4/2: Those who fag their way by a fastidious service in the College of Cram.
1899		Boy’s Own Paper 4 Mar. 363: If we fag a bit and train hard I don’t see why we shouldn’t at least hold our own.
1901		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ In Bad Company 357: They will not fag at their books to the same extent as a Britisher.
1919		Aussie (France) XIII Apr. 17/1: ‘Say, Guy, you seem to have a tight hold on this ’ere lingo! It’s got me licked to a frazzle; how did yer learn it?’ / ‘Oh! just fagging it from books, and sprooking with the Mademoiselles,’ said Dinkum.