toe rag

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From toe + rag

toe rag (plural toe rags)

1. (Britain, slang, derogatory) A tramp.
   • 1896, Walter Frith, In Search of Quiet: A Country Journal, May–July (novel), Harper & Brothers Publishers, page 156:

     “ […] Look what it's all driven me to!—a beggar, a tramp, a toe-rag commercial. […] ”

   • 1959, Willis Hall, The Long and the Short and the Tall, Heinemann (1994), 978-0-435-23302-0, page 5:

     Bamforth: Flipping toe-rag! He wants carving up. It’s time that nit got sorted out. […]

   • 2001, Eric Clapton, liner notes to Reptile”, quoted in William Ruhlmann, “Reptile / Mar. 13, 2001 / Reprise”, Vladimir Bogdanov et al., All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues, Third Edition, Hal Leonard Corporation, →ISBN, page 116:

     Where I come from, the word ‘reptile’ is a term of endearment, used in much the same way as ‘toe rag’ or ‘moosh’.

2. (archaic) A cloth worn wrapped around the foot instead of a sock.
   • 1864, “an Ex-Military Officer” (J. F. Mortlock), Experiences of a Convict, Transported in 1843 for Twenty-One Years: An Autobiographical Memoir, part II, Richard Barrett (printer), page 80:

     Stockings being unknown, some luxurious men wrapped round their feet a piece of old shirting, called, in language more expressive than elegant, a “toe-rag”.

   • 1891, Rolf Boldrewood, A Sydney-side Saxon, Macmillan and Co., page 157:

     One of his feet had been bleeding, I could see from his ‘toe-rag,’ which stuck out on one side.

   • 1913, D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, Penguin Lawrence Edition, Penguin (1994), →ISBN, page 213:

     “I’ll bet ’er wor a toe-rag,” said Morel, following up his joke. ¶ “Don’t you be so cheeky about a queen,” said Annie.

• Said to be from Tuareg, a nomadic North African tribesman, but may share same etymology as the UK definition: from the cloths worn around the foot.

toe rag (plural toe rags)

1. (Ireland, slang, derogatory) An obnoxious or insignificant person.

Unknown

toe rag (plural toe rags)

1. (Britain, Somerset) Dried salt cod-fish.

• Frederick Thomas Elworthy, The West Somerset Word-book: A Glossary of Dialectal and Archaic Words and Phrase, English Dialect Society, 1886.

• Argote, OR gate, Tagore, ergato-, garote, gear to, orgeat