tag 
6158 
[Formerly also taiju ; also tig- 
tag (appar. a varied redupl. of tag) or simply 
tig; origin uncertain; connection with tag 1 
tagster 
Such as you see now and then have a Life in the Intail tag- (tag), w. 
of a great Estate, that seem to have come into the World 
only to be Tags in the Pedigree of a wealthy House. 
Steele, Tender Husband, i. 1. - ^ rf - -,-=, ^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ &yef f ^^ -^ 
tags after the others') is not clear; and con- 
nection with L. tangere (/ tag, touch, as if 
touching') is out of the question.] A chil- 
You are only happy when you can spy a tag or a tassel 
loose to turn the talk. George Eliot, Felix Holt, x. 
Her reddish-brown hair, which grew in a fringe below 
her crown, was plaited into small tags or tails. 
Harper's Mag., LXXVII. 137. 
Specifically (a) A matted lock of wool on a sheep; a 
tag-lock. See <a</i, t). ., 5. (6) The tail of an animal ; 
also, the tip of the tail. 
A tag [of a salmon-fly] may be of ostrich herl, or pig's 
or seal's wool, or floss. Sportsman's Gazetteer, p. 600. 
The fox meanwhile . . . gets the credit of being a 
vixen but his snowy tag has only to be seen to dispel 
that notion. The Field, Feb. 27, 1886, p. 268. 
(c) A strip of leather, parchment, strong paper, or the 
like, loose at one end, and secured to a box, bag, or 
parcel to receive a written address or label, (a) Any- 
thing hanging loosely or raggedly : used especially in con- 
tempt, as implying ragged or slovenly dress, (e) Some- 
sheet of charcoal-iron, which is equal in tenacity to lea- 
ther itself. Flower, History of Tin and Tin Plates, p. 156. 
6. A sheet of tin-plate of less than the standard 
gage or size of the box or lot in which it is 
packed; a light-weight plate. In the United 
States such sheets are more commonly called 
/flitters. 
dren^s game in which one 'player chases the tagging (tag'ing), . [Verbal n. of tag 1 , ] 
others till he touches or hits (tags) one of them, In sheep-husbandry, the removal of clotted or 
who then takes his place as tagger. The latter 
is commonly designated only as ft, as in the expressions 
"I will be it" (at the beginning of the game), "You're it" 
(to one who has been touched). 
After they were cloyed with hide-and-seek, they all 
played tagg till they were well warmed. 
Brooke, Fool of Quality, v. 
Cross-tag a variation of tag in which any one of the 
players can run across the path of the tagger, who must 
then abandon the previous pursuit and chase the crossing 
player until he is caught or until another player crosses. 
(See also squat-tag.) 
pret. and pp. tagged, ppr. tag- 
.] To touch or hit, as in the 
(op;DU;ttheVoi-d "is iu"sed technically : of a closing speech tag 3 (tag), re. [E. dial, also teg; origin uncer- 
or dialogue supplementary to a speech in a play, not neces- t a j n Connection with stag, steg, can hardly be 
t ' ne flrBt year . 
, 
its completeness, and often constituting a direct 
leafy br 
man [Kean], after some old tag of Octavian had passed his 
restless lips, of " Farewell Flo Floranthe ! " 
Doran, Annals of Stage (Amer. ed. 1865), II. 413. 
At the end [of Udall's "Ralph Roister Doister") all the 
characters peaceably unite in speaking a tag in honour 
We know the tag and the burden and the weariness of 
the old song. W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 110. ^- ----- -- - 
3. Collectively, the rabble; the lowest class of taflboat tal'b6t) /' 
people, as closing the line of social rank, and la g-l 
forming as it were a string or tail : most com- 
monly in the phrases tag and rag and rag-tag 
and bobtail or tag, rag, and bobtail. See rag- 
tag and tag-rag. 
They all came in, both tagge and ragge. 
Will you hence, 
Before the tag return ? whose rai 
incana or A. serrulata in the eastern part, and 
matted locks of wool. 
Tagging or clatting is the removal of such wool as is 
liable to get fouled when the sheep are turned on to the 
fresh pastures. New Amer. Farm Book, p. 436. 
taghairm (tag'erm), n. [Gael, and Ir. taghairm, 
an echo, a mode of divination.] A mode of 
divination formerly practised among the Scot- 
tish Highlanders. According to Scott, a person wrap- 
ped in a fresh bullock's skin was left lying alone beside 
a waterfall, at the bottom of a precipice, or in some 
other wild place. Here he meditated on any question 
proposed, and the response that his excited imagination 
suggested was accepted as inspired by the spirits who 
haunted the place. 
Last evening-tide 
Brian an augury hath tried, 
Of that dread kind which must not be 
Unless in dread extremity, 
The Taghairm call'd ; by which, afar, 
Our sires foresaw the events of war. 
Scott, L. of the L., iv. 4. 
A tag-fastener. 
"wrr tag-holder (tag'hol'der), . A tag-fasten. 
usually to A.rubra on the Pacific coast. [Col- SggjJ (tag'i-lit), . [< Tagil (lee def. 
wi-] -tte 2 .] A hydrous phosphate of copper, ov^~+- 
tagasaste (tag-a-sas te) re A species of broom, . ^ mon c linic ^tals, or more commonly 
Cyttsus prohferus, of the Canary Islands. Its in pheroidal concre tionary forms, of a bright- 
Ipa.tv nranphps are tefi TO cattle. __i_. TJ. j> j A: . i: :*~ * 
sailing vessel. [Local, 
I got into the schooner's tag-boat quick, I tell ye. 
S. 0. Jewett, Deephaven, p. 107. 
A loose or unconnected 
[Colloq.] 
She heard the tag-end of the conversation. 
E. L. Bynner, Begum's Daughter, xix. 
green color. It is found inerusting limonite at 
Nizhne Tagil in the Urals. 
taglet (tag'let), . [< tag! + -let.'] A little 
tag. 
taglia (tal'ya), re. [It., < tagliare = F. tailler, 
cut: see taife.] A particular combination of 
pulleys, consisting of a set of sheaves in a fixed 
block and another set in a movable block to 
which the weight is attached, with a single rope 
passing round all the pulleys and fastened by 
one end at some point in the system. 
Pagliacotian (tal-ya-ko'shian), a. See Taliaco- 
. . - tian. 
and T. erecta among herbalists; by Fuchs said taglioni (tal-yo'ni), . [So called after a noted 
to have been used by Apuleius for a kind of family of ballet-dancers named Taglioni.} A 
tansy; by others said, from the beauty of the kind of overcoat formerly in use. 
flowers, to be < L. Tages, an Etruscan divinity, Hi8 ^fc,,,- or com f or table greatcoat. Scott. 
A genus of composite plants, of the order Hele- jj^f Adapted from "life skirts of ballet-dancers : tt con- 
nioideee, type of the subtribe Tagetinese. It is siste'd of several light overskirts, usually of different 
characterized by usually radiate flower-heads with a pap- lengths. 
pus of flve or six awns, and surrounded by a single row of tag-lock (tag'lok), re. A matted lock of wool 
equal involucral bracts which are connate into a more or ,3! elxxm 
less lobed cup or cylinder, and are dotted with oily glands. 
There are about 20 species, natives of Americafrom Buenos 
Ayres to Mexico. They are smooth erect branching or 
diffuse herbs, bearing opposite and commonly pinnately 
dissected leaves, and yellow or orange flower- heads, which 
are long-stalked, large, and showy, or densely corymbed 
and smaller. Many species have an offensive odor; T. 
micrantha has the scent of anise. The two most com- 
monly cultivated species, T. patula, the French marigold, 
and T. erecta. the African marigold, are strong-scented 
annuals; the latter, the African tansy or flos Aphricanus 
of the herbalists (from De L'Obel, 1581), now occurs nat- 
on a sheep. 
If they cannot devour our flesh, they will pluck our 
fleeces leave us nothing but the tag-locks, poor vicarage 
tithes. Rev. T. Adams, Works, II. 115. 
agma (tag'ma), n. [NL., < Or. rdyua, that 
wliich has been ordered or arranged, < rdooeiv, 
order, arrange: see tactic.'] In bot., a general 
term applied by Pfeffer to all the various theo- 
retical aggregates of chemical molecules out of 
which vegetable structure is built up, thus em- 
Heywood, Royal King (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 14). 
They all went down into the dining-room, where it was 
full of tag, rag, and bobtail, dancing, singing, and drink- 
ing. Pepys, Diary, March 6, 1660. 
Tag, Rag, and Bobtail are capering there, 
Worse scene, I ween, than Bartlemy Fair ! 
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 109. 
4. In velvet-weaving, a wire used to raise the 
weft Hag, tag, and ragt. See hags. 
tag 1 (tag), r. ; pret. and pp. tagged, ppr. tag- 
ging. [<?</!, re.] I. trans. 1. To furnish with a 
tag of any kind; fix or append a tag or tags to. 
But is it thus you English Bards compose? 
With Runic Lays thus tag insipid Prose? 
Prior, To Boileau Despreaux (1704). 
To tag all his stupid observations with a "Very true." 
Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, xxxii. 
All my beard 
Was tagg'd with icy fringes. 
Tennyson, St. Simeon Stylites. 
2. To mark by or on a tag; designate or direct 
by means of a marked tag. ering" 'T.TuaSa^'a.'MLei^D per'ennial"c S uTti'vat'ed V for"it8 tagma. 
Every skein is tagged with the firm name. numerous small yellow fragrant flowers, approaches the tag-machine (tag'ma-sheil"), n. A machine tor 
Contemporary Itev., LVI., Dec., Adv. southern border of the United States, and two species, T. making tags or labels. Some forms in one operation 
Number of letters for New York delivery including micrantha, with inconspicuous flowers, and T. Lemmoni, fold ovcr the nia t e rial, insert a tape or cord, gum the fold 
sacks tagged "New York City " witn ornamental flowers, extend into Arizona, over upon the ^pe, punch the eyelet-hole, print the ad- 
New York Evening Post, Jan. 10, 1891. tag-fastener (tag'fas'ner), re. Any device for dress, and cut the tag to the required size. 
3 To fasten or join on. by or as if by the use securing a tag or label to a bale, bag, etc.; a tag-needle (tag'ne"dl), re. A needle for at- 
of tags; tack on, especially in the sense of tag-holder taching ta ? s i to bales or parcels^ One ,ride_ol the 
adding something superfluous or undesirable, taggt, n. An obsolete spelling of tag*. 
Jo. Dreyden, Esq., Poet Laureate, ... very much ad- tagged (tagd), a. Furnished with a tag or tags, 
mired him, and went to him to have leave to putt his The pack already straining at his [the fox's) i 
Paradise Lost into a drama in rhyme. Mr. Milton re- brush. The Field, Jan. 2, 1886. (Encyc. Diet.) 
tagger (tag'er), re. [< tagl + -e-l.] 1. One 
who tags or attaches one thing to another. 2. 
That which is joined or appended to anything; 
an appendage. 
So wild, so pointed, and so staring, 
That I should wrong them by comparing 
Hedgehogs' or porcupines' small taggers 
To their more dangerous swords and daggers. 
Cotton, To J. Bradshaw. 
uralized in China and India, where it has been extensive- bracing under one head the pleon, micella, and 
Y^^f^^JaS^^t^^i^^J^. icellar aggregate. See micella, pUon\ syn- 
* " 
He? 
He is tagging your epitaph. 
Browning, Too Late, st 8. 
The purely objective style of the old chroniclers, with 
their tanging on of one fact after another, without show- 
ing the logical connection. Encyc. Brit., XXII. 359. 
4. To follow closely and persistently ; dog the 
steps of: as, a dog tags its master. [Colloq.] 
eye is formed by an elastic piece, which may be made to 
sDi-ine open by forcibly pulling the thread backward. 
I', tag-rag (tag'rag), n. [< tagi + ragi. Cf. rag- 
E^DiA) '.</] 1. A fluttering rag; a tatter hanging or 
flapping from a garment. [Rare.] 
Of his sentences perhaps not more than nine-tenths 
stand straight on their legs ; the remainder are in quite 
angular attitudes, buttressed up by props (of parentheses 
and dashes), and ever with this or the other tag-rag hang- 
ing from them. Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, i. 4. 
2. Same as rag-tag : often in the phrase tag- 
rag and bobtail. See tag 1 , re., 3. 
II. in trans. 1. To make or compose tags; 
tack things or ideas together. [Rare.] 
Compell'd by you to tag in rhymes. 
Svnft, Journal of Modern Lady. 
2. To go along or about as a follower: as, to 
tag after a person ; to tag behind a procession. 
[Colloq.] 
Gallants, men and women, 
And of all sorts, tag-rag. 
B. Jonson, Alchemist, 1. v. 
He [William IV.] lives a strange life at Brighton, with 
tagray and bobtail about him, and always open house, 
coated with tin. The latter is known as Mack taggers; Greville, Memoirs, Jan. 19, 1831. 
the former is sometimes called simply taggers, and some- 
times taggers tin. This material is used for a great variety tag-SOre (tag sor), . A disease in sheep, in 
of purposes where cheapness is desirable and strength not which the tail becomes excoriated and sticks 
essential. to the fl eece j n consequence of diarrhea. Also 
In substance they [tin-plates] differ from a sheet of called taff _ 6 ^. 
taggers, as thin as paper itself, to a plate of ten times that . /*4.A.\ . ft t,,,,\ 4- **,-. 1 i onnlrl 
thickness, adapted for the dish-covers of ordinary use; tagster (tag ster), . [< .tftgi + -stei.} A seokl, 
in toughness, from a sheet which won't bend at all to a a virago. HaUtwell. [Frov. hng.J 
