Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to gossip, to chatter; thus rag chewing n.

1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Feb. 9/1: Hanlan’s backers flowed steadily to the public-houses, while those who planked their money on Clifford stayed at home to ‘chaw the rag’.
1895		Courier (Lincoln, NE) 13 July 14/2: They are quiet and gentlemanly, there being none of the wrangling and rag chewing.
1899		J. Flynt Tramping with Tramps 145: Wall, then, I’m goin’ to chew the rag wid y’u fer a little while.
1905		Salt Lake Trib. (UT) 3 Sept. 28/5: There has been a lot of rag-chewing over what these two boys will do.
1908		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 94: Forty minutes rapid exercise in rag chewing.
1911		Seattle Repub. (WA) 12 May 1/3: Perhaps they would advocate more work and less rag chewing in the print shops.
1912		D. Lowrie My Life in Prison 280: A Deputy Sheriff came into the jail one day and got to chewing the rag with me.
1915		T. McNamara Us Boys 10 May [synd. cartoon strip] Foolin’ ’round chewin’ the mop with them suffragetts!
1920		Cayton’s Wkly (Seattle, WA) 24 Jan. n.p.: If officials generally would act quickly in such cases a lot of wrangling and rag chewing would be obviated.
1921		N. Putnam West Broadway 126: I’ll be dog-goned if in three minutes we wasn’t chewing the rag like old friends.
1924		C.J. Dennis ‘The Knight’s Return’ in Chisholm (1951) 86: The nearer ’ome I get the worse I feel; / The worse I feel, the more I chew the rag.
1927		(con. WW1) P. MacDonald Patrol 39: ‘Shert up! [...] We’ve chewed the bleedin’ rag abaht it all the bleedin’ day’.
1934		J. Franklyn This Gutter Life 178: Go on! Go on! p**s off! Don’t stand ’ere chewin’ the rag! hustle, you bloody bitches, will you?
c.1940–5		‘Myles na gCopaleen’ Best of Myles (1968) 46: Work and walking around swallying pints and chawin’ the rag at the street corner.
1944		E. Wilson 29 Feb. [synd. col.] [headline] Ragland Chews the Rag and King’s English to Bits.
1946		S. Jackson An Indiscreet Guide to Soho 101: Those who want to relax can play billiards or cards but [...] the most popular game is ‘chewing the rag’.
1951		J.D. Salinger Catcher in the Rye (1958) 31: I went down to the can and chewed the rag with him while he was shaving.
1962		R. Hauser Homosexual Society 49: I still come in here to meet old friends who want to chew the rag with me.
1966		C. Stead Cotters’ England (1980) 234: Don’t stay up all night every night chewing the rag.
1977		S. Stallone Paradise Alley (1978) 40: I’m just chewin’ a friendly rag with Nickels here.
1981		J. Charles Black Billy Tea 29: Says Billy the Dog to Jimmy the Rat, / ‘Let’s squat and chew the rag’.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak 37: Chew the fat or rag – to discuss and reminisce.
1999		N. Stephenson Cryptonomicon 605: Ah figgered you ’n’ ah’ud have plenny a tahm to chew the rag.

2. to grumble, to complain.

1885		B. Patterson Life in the Ranks 77: Some trivial violation of regimental discipline, such as persisting to argue the point, or ‘chew the rag’.
1895		J.L. Williams Princeton Stories 65: Do not chew a rag because your little poler did not develop as you wanted him to.
1896		Regiment 22 Aug. 319/2: Provided he has not succumbed to sea sickness [on a troop-ship], Tommy continues to ‘chew the rag’.
1898		Riverina Recorder (Moulamein, NSW) 2 Nov. 2/4: ‘Allphoupel’ is ‘chewing the rag’ over it, and says he does not care if he never sees ‘The Laird’ again.
1900		A.H. Lewis ‘Hamilton Finnerty’s Heart’ in Sandburrs 66: He did naught but chew the rag.
c.1905		J. Furphy Buln-Buln and the Brolga (1948) 🌐 Seems like as if he’d been standin’ in my light ever since I been workin’ for him. I been chewin’ the rag over it for years.
1913		Sport (Adelaide) 28 June 9/3: They Say [...] That Ernie W. [...] was chewing the rag because Gobler took his curly-haired little girl to the dance.
1920		S. Lewis Main Street (1921) 416: Next time you hear some zob from Yahooville-on-the-Hudson chewing the rag and bulling and trying to get your goat tell him that no two-fisted enterprising Westerner would have New York for a gift!
1927		Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 20 Aug. 11/1: Slanguage [...] Parse and analyse the following: [...] ‘S’pose ’e’s chewin’ the rag at the old pot anbd pan’s now’.
1936		J.T. Farrell World I Never Made 168: She was going to [...] start chewing the rag at him.
1943		W. Guthrie Bound for Glory (1969) 277: She acted crabby and fussy, chewing the rag.
1950		(con. 1936–46) K.S. Prichard Winged Seeds (1984) 275: All the reactionaries in the town are chewin’ the rag [...] But they’ve got to admit the Red Army’s ‘saved Britain in her hour of gravest peril’.
1965		F.J. Hardy Yarns of Billy Borker 130: The waterfront D’s are standing at the gate chewing the rag about not being able to catch Honest Hambone.

3. to argue, to speak irresponsibly.

1899		E. Townshend ‘Chimmie Fadden’s Fun’ 9 Feb. [synd. col.] Mr Paul likes to see His Whiskers chew de rag.
1901		A. Binstead More Gal’s Gossip 71: All this chewing of the rag provokes Ben, who sets about his man.
1908		H. Green Maison De Shine 180: Aw, what’s the use of old pals like us chawin’ the rag?
1912		Burlington Wkly Free Press (VT) 11 Apr. n.p.: The old lady was so soured on me [...] There was lots o’ rag-chewin’ between her and me.
1928		C. McKay Home to Harlem 83: Why don’t you wait till you see something before you staht in chewing the rag?
1954		(con. 1940s) T.A.G. Hungerford Sowers of the Wind 146: Why chew the rag about it?
1981		P. Wright Cockney Dialect and Sl. 92: Chew the rag ‘have an argument’.