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Nor ſhould it prove thy leſs important Care, / To chuſe a proper Coat for Winter's Wear. / [...] / True Witney Broad-cloath with it's Shag unſhorn, / Unpierc'd is in the laſting Tempeſt worn: [...]
The Captain folded his brow into a look of intense perplexity. 'You seem exceedingly spry for a man who demolished an entire bottle of brandy and better part of an ounce of shag in a single evening.' 'And very nice too,' said the tramp. 'Now as to breakfast?'
1830 January 23, Ettrick Shepherd, “Dr David Dale's Account of a Grand Aerial Voyage”, in The Edinburgh Literary Journal, volume 3, number 63, page 52:
But it is a braw elemental sphere this o' ours, for here's a good queich o' claret for ye, an' a shag o' butter-an'-bread.
2001, Ranjani Neriya, “Husk”, in Beloit Poetry Journal, volume 51, number 4, archived from the original on 3 March 2016, page 21:
romancing Shelley between / sips of thermos tea and / yeasty shags of bread, sour-sweet, / from Lizzie Coutinho’s bakery.
2011, Liz Worth, Gary Pig Gold, Treat Me Like Dirt: An Oral History of Punk in Toronto and Beyond 1977-1981, page 16:
There was that hair salon on Yonge Street called House of Lords. On a Saturday – nowadays you can't even imagine it – but imagine a hair salon having a lineup outside of people wanting to get a shag haircut.
1809, Joel Barlow, The Columbiad: A Poem, page 34:
He saw the pine its daring mantle rear, / Break the rude blast, and mock the brumal year / Shag the green zone that bounds the boreal skies, / And bid all southern vegetation rise.
From Middle Englishschaggen, a variant of Middle Englishschoggen(“to shake; shake off; tremble”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a byform of Middle Englishschokken(“to shake; move rapidly”), related to Middle Low Germanschokken(“to shake; tremble”). Alternatively, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Germanic*skakkōną(“to shake”), specifically continuing a post-Proto-Germanic variant *skagg-, where the non-singular stem *skag- caused the analogical replacement of the stem-final voiceless geminate consonants with voiced geminates, which was then leveled throughout the paradigm.
Verb
shag (third-person singular simple presentshags, present participleshagging, simple past and past participleshagged)
I can kick this stuff any time I like. I tell you what. Get this week over, we'll go to a health farm for ten days. No drugs. No drink. And shag ourselves silly. How about that?
Chris is off somewhere in the darkness, but I'm not going to shag after him.
1997, Nelson Algren, The Last Carousel, page 273:
When a White Sox scout spotted him shagging flies on a Milwaikee sandlot, and asked Felsch if he'd like to come to Chicago, Hap decided that that might be fun, too.
(dance,uncommon) To perform the dance called the shag.
1970, Richard R. Lingeman, Don't You Know There's a War On?, Putnam, →ISBN, page 16:
Showman Monte Proser tried to cash in on the boom on a mass basis with his Dance Carnival in Madison Square Garden, where dancers lindy hopped, shagged and fox-trotted to the orchestras of Benny Goodman, Larry Clinton and Charlie Barnett[…]
Its evolutionary course is unclear; however, by the late thirties, Shag was all the rage both on and off college campuses. It became so popular, in fact, that a 1937 New York Times article describes it as “the fundamental dance step for swing.”
2007, Julie Andrews, “Roman Must Die”, in The Leonard Variations: Clarion 2007 San Diego, →ISBN, page 10:
They were in the midst of an intense snog, his tongue down her throat as he tried to work out if he wanted another shag before she left for the night, when an odd noise sounded from behind the door of 2B.
2010, Clara Darling, Hot City Nights, St. Martin's Press, published 2010, →ISBN, page 107:
“And feel free to come over anytime you'd like a drink and a shag. […]
2011, Josephine Myles, Barging In, Samhain Publishing, Ltd., published 2011, →ISBN, page 24:
He could say yes, then just quietly leave the area without ever seeing the man again. He could even get a shag out of Charles first.
The blackbirds and robins and and tits and finches shout at each other, chups and warbles and chirrups that, loosely translated, mean “Fancy a shag?”, “Get OFF my land” or “I’ve got a great big tonker.”
2023 May 13, Kitty Drake, “This is how we do it: ‘A tired, throwaway midweek shag doesn’t interest me’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
I’m not interested in having a tired, throwaway midweek shag. Having sex once a week means I can give it my full attention and energy.
Lizzy is a shag extraordinaire, but has a tongue like a sailor and a castrating stare.
2003, Freya North, Pip, Harper, published 2003, →ISBN:
'It turned out that it was me who was just a shag to him. He had a girlfriend I didn't know about. He presumed I was up for some no-strings action. And the thing is, I thought I was – in theory. But in practice, I realized that I wasn't.'
2008, Bruce Cooke, Trace Elements, Eternal Press, published 2008, →ISBN, page 56:
"Was I just another shag to you, Trace? Someone to bed when the offer came?"
2011, Wes Lee, “Saul”, in Zoe Dattner, Louise Swinn, editors, The Sleepers Almanac, No. 7, Sleepers Publishing, →ISBN, page 135:
'Your favourite shag?' I ask her. 'Martin Kershen.' 'He was a sexy beast.'
2008 January 9, ex_rubberdagger , “The Guzz Accent”, in Navy Net Forums:
I'm fcuked then mate. Born and bred sarf london and the missarse is a brummie. Oh and her old man is a scouser!!¶ You all still sound like a bunch of inbreds though but it's better than the Hereford accent "alright shag where you be"
2010, John Featherstone, Hangman's Got The Blues:
I was going down the stairs to get my bike when I ran into Jim Mudd coming up. "Alright shag?" he said like we were best mates.
2015 February 18, “Not had a fag for weeks”, in Reddit, r/TheRedLion:
Anyways, I'll check in every now and then, cheers shag :-)