nag

Noun

nag (plural nags)

1. A small horse; a pony.
3. An old, useless horse.

   Synonyms: (Northern England, Scotland, dialectal, archaic) aver, dobbin, hack, jade, plug

   • 2011, James Ellroy, Clandestine, →ISBN, page 245:

     We used to lure the nags into the back of our truck with oats and sugar, then we'd drive back to town to this warehouse and inject the nags with small quantities of morphine I'd stolen.

4. (obsolete, derogatory) A paramour.
   • c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene x], line 11:

     Yon ribaudred nag of Egypt – Whom leprosy o'ertake!

Verb

nag (third-person singular simple present nags, present participle nagging, simple past and past participle nagged)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To repeatedly remind or complain to (someone) in an annoying way, often about insignificant or unnecessary matters.
   • 2006, Jerry Day, How to Raise Kids You Want to Keep, →ISBN:

     The room is never cleaned, so her mother nags and nags until she explodes with frustration and threatens to sell her to the lowest bidder.

   Anyone would think that I nagged at you, Amanda! (From Amanda! by Robin Klein)

2. To bother with persistent thoughts or memories.
   • 2010, John David Wells, Diamonds of Affection and Other Stories, →ISBN, page 100:

     I guess it happens all the time in crime stories where the detective suddenly remembers a bit of conversation that nags him in some way, then for some inexplicable reason, it's just right there in front of you, like a sign pointing 'here!

   • 2010, John Goldingay, Key Questions about Christian Faith: Old Testament Answers, →ISBN:

     Sometimes I write because there is a question that nags at me, sometimes because there is a question that nags at other people.

   • 2013, Ra Page, L.E. Yates, Ann Winter, Parenthesis: A New Generation in Short Fiction:

     You are sleeping on your side in the bed in your flat, heavily embroiled in a dream which sucks and nags at you and makes no sense; an old primary school teacher is there and a cat you have to take to a supermarket; you are in a canoe.

   The notion that he forgot something nagged him the rest of the day.

3. To bother or disturb persistently in any way.
   • 1999, Tim Parks, Adultery and Other Diversions, →ISBN:

     But at night, around the uncertain edge of dreams, and when the wind nags, there are few whom an odd sound will not thrill

   • 2013, Tina Egnoski, Perishables, →ISBN:

     When a breeze comes up and nags the surface, it sparkles like a gemstone.

   • 2014, James Lane Allen, The Last Christmas Tree: An Idyl of Immortality, →ISBN, page 8:

     We are well accustomed as we look out upon Nature at close range to see great creatures harrassed^[sic] by little creatures. The lot of each big one seems to be in the keeping of some little one, which never quits it, nags it, stings it, wears it out, drives it desperate, makes life somewhat a burden to it and death somewhat a relief.

   a nagging pain in his left knee

   a nagging north wind

Noun

nag (plural nags)

1. Someone or something that nags.
   • 2011, M.C. Beaton -, Death of a Nag, →ISBN:

     'That fellow is a nag.' 'Aye, the worst kind,' agreed Hamish, and then smiled, and at that smile, Miss Gunnery thawed even more.

   • 2014, Louise Hathaway, Nags, Sluts, and A Deep-Breasted Soulmate from the Shining City, →ISBN:

     When we see Wolfe struggling with many depictions of woman characters throughout the novel (the earlier ones being nags and white trash), we greatly admire the development of this living tribute to Aline Bernstein, a woman whom he ends up despising in his later life.

   • 2015 -, Dwight McNeill, Using Person-Centered Health Analytics to Live Longer, →ISBN:

     But, pchA has to produce more than awareness, always-on alerts/nags, or edu-tainment.

2. A repeated complaint or reminder.
   • 2011, Mike Bryant, Peter Mabbutt, Hypnotherapy For Dummies, →ISBN:

     And finally the biggest thank you of all to my partner Steven Winston for your love, enthusiasm, encouragement, support, humour, nags, and glasses of wine.

   • 2015, Steve Brookstein, Getting Over the X, →ISBN, page 58:

     I turned it on Eileen and threw in a couple of my normal nags about her driving.

   • 2016, Suzie Hayman, John Coleman, Parents and Digital Technology: How to Raise the Connected Generation, →ISBN:

     A girl who expects her mother to nag her about her untidy bedroom will hear that message, even though the mother may want to talk about something quite different, so a loving invitiation to go shopping that started "When you've finished in your bedroom this morning. . ." might result in the child screaming, storming out and slamming the door because she expected this to be a nag about the state of the room and didn't let you finish with “ . . . shall we go to the shopping centre?”.

3. A persistent, bothersome thought or worry.
   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 152:

     All that while there was a little nag going on at the back of his mind, which he strove to disregard. But it insisted on attention, and to get rid of it he put down his palette abruptly and got out his mustard-tin cash-box and counted his money.

   • 2009, James Swift, How I Survived Three Years at a Two-Year Community College, →ISBN:

     During my lengthy aerobic strolls (which more or less served as a tool of meditation), that thought about “college” became a persistent nag.

   • 2014, Graham Allcott, How to be a Productivity Ninja, →ISBN:

     There are two ways to get rid of our nags. We can either use Ninja decision-making to turn them quickly into actions, stored in our second brain to be revisited when we have some time. Or we can simply just capture and collect the nag, knowing that our systems will ensure we return to it later.

   • 2016, Sarah Lowndes, The DIY Movement in Art, Music and Publishing, →ISBN:

     That feeling turned into a very persistent nag.

Noun

nag

1. Misspelling of knack.

Derived terms

• bære nag

Declension

Derived terms

• nágōst

Inflection

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

Synonyms

• gòl (more formal)

Derived terms

• nágost

Usage notes

Used before a vowel, but not when that vowel has resulted from the soft mutation of g. Thus na + gallan becomes na allan, not *nag allan.

Alternative forms

• na (used before a consonant)