nag
/ˈnæɡ/ noun, verb
Forms nags nagging nagged
- noun A small horse; a pony.
- noun An old, useless horse.
- noun (obsolete, derogatory) A paramour.
- verb (ambitransitive) To repeatedly remind or complain to (someone) in an annoying way, often about insignificant or unnecessary matters.
- verb To bother with persistent thoughts or memories. “The notion that he forgot something nagged him the rest of the day.”
- verb To bother or disturb persistently in any way.
- noun Someone or something that nags.
- noun A repeated complaint or reminder.
- noun A persistent, bothersome thought or worry.
Synonyms
aver dobbin hack jade plug ride sit on haunt worry shrew scold scolder nagger common scold peck hen-peck
Etymology
From Middle English nagg, nage, nagge (“horse, small riding horse, pony”), cognate with Dutch negge, neg (“horse”), German Nickel (“small horse”). Perhaps related to English neigh.
Probably from a North Germanic source; compare Swedish nagga (“to gnaw, grumble”), Danish nage (“to nag, bother”), Icelandic nagga (“to complain”).
Compare typologically fret, Bulgarian глождя (gloždja), Russian глода́ть (glodátʹ), грызть (gryztʹ), по́едом есть (pójedom jestʹ), е́дкий (jédkij).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A small horse; a pony; hence, any horse.
- noun A paramour; --in contempt. [Obs.] Shak.
- verb To tease in a petty way; to scold habitually; to annoy; to fret pertinaciously. [Colloq.] "She never nagged." J. Ingelow.
Etymology [OE. nagge, D. negge; akin to E. neigh.]
Etymology [Cf. Sw. nagga to nibble, peck, Dan. nage to gnaw, Icel. naga, gnaga, G. nagen, & E. gnaw.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “nag”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details