different between scrag vs sprag

English

Etymology

Perhaps related to Norwegian skragg (a lean person), dialectal Swedish skragge (old and torn thing), Danish skrog (hull, carcass); perhaps related to shrink.

Pronunciation

Noun

scrag (plural scrags)

1. (archaic) A thin or scrawny person or animal. [from the 16th c.]
   • 1946, Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan

     In any event he might have wakened the long scrag by so doing.

2. (archaic) The lean end of a neck of mutton; the scrag end.
3. (archaic) The neck, especially of a sheep.
4. (Scotland) A scrog. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
5. (Britain, slang, derogatory) A chav or ned; a stereotypically loud and aggressive person of lower social class.
6. (Australia, slang, derogatory) A rough or unkempt woman.
7. A ragged, stunted tree or branch.

Verb

scrag (third-person singular simple present scrags, present participle scragging, simple past and past participle scragged)

1. (obsolete, colloquial) To hang on a gallows, or to choke, garotte, or strangle.
   • Pall Mall Magazine

     An enthusiastic mob will scrag me to a certainty the day war breaks out.

   • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, p. 37:

     Adrian thought it worth while to try out his new slang... ‘That's beastly talk, Thompson. Jolly well take it back or expect a good scragging.’

2. To harass; to manhandle.
   • 1958, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 15, in Cocktail Time:

     '...I urged him ... to ... try the Ickenham System ... a little thing I knocked together in my bachelor days ... it has a good many points in common with all-in wrestling and osteopathy. I generally recommend it to diffident wooers and it always works like magic...'

     Johnny stared.

     'You mean you told McMurdo to … scrag her?'

3. To destroy or kill.

Translations

Anagrams

• CAGRs, crags

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spræ?/

Etymology 1

Adjective

sprag (comparative more sprag, superlative most sprag)

1. Alternative form of sprack

Etymology 2

See spray (“a branch”).

Noun

sprag (plural sprags)

1. A billet of wood; a piece of timber, a similar solid object or constructed unit used as a prop.
   • 1956, United States Department of the Army, United States Department of the Air Force, Principles of Automotive Vehicles, Technical Manual 9-8000, page 325,

     A sprag (fig. 349) is a steel block so shaped as to act as a wedge in the complete assembly. In the sprag unit under discussion, there are 42 sprags assembled into an outer race and held in place by two energizing springs (fig. 350).

   • 1981, (US) Departments of the Army and Air Force, Maintenance: Direct Support, and General Support Level, Technical Manual 9-2520-246-34-1, page 2-201,

     When checking sprags, anvil and spindle ends of micrometer and flat back of sprag must all rest on a flat surface as shown in view A.

     Since wear on all sprags in any one sprag unit will be the same, it is only necessary to check 5 sprags in each assembly.

   • 2008, Cliff Ruggles, GM Automatic Overdrive Transmission Builder's and Swapper's Guide, page 52,

     The sprag should still be taken apart for visual inspection of the components. I have seen sprags that still functioned correctly, but when taken apart, the spring cage that holds the sprag elements was completely destroyed.

   • 2009, Jack Erjavec, Automotive Technology: A Systems Approach, Cengage Learning, page 1192,

     A one-way sprag clutch (figure 40-36) consists of a hub and a drum separated by figure-eight-shaped metal pieces called sprags. The sprags are shaped this way so they can lock between the races when a race is turned in one direction only.

Derived terms

• sprag clutch

Verb

sprag (third-person singular simple present sprags, present participle spragging, simple past and past participle spragged)

1. (transitive) To check the motion of, as a carriage on a steep slope, by putting a sprag between the spokes of the wheel.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of R. S. Poole to this entry?)

2. (transitive) To prop or sustain with a sprag.

Etymology 3

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Compare Icelandic spraka (“a small flounder”)?

Noun

sprag (plural sprags)

1. A young salmon.

Anagrams

• ARPGs, GRASP, grasp