toe rag
nounEtymology 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.
1
Ireland, Derogatory, Slang An obnoxious or insignificant person.
toe-rag
nounalso spelled toe-rag1
Archaic A cloth worn wrapped around the foot instead of a sock; a footwrap.
- 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”.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
- One of his feet had been bleeding, I could see from his ‘toe-rag,’ which stuck out on one side.1891, Rolf Boldrewood, A Sydney-side Saxon, Macmillan and Co., page 157:
1 more example
- Steady old Väinämöinen / yonder crept with no shoes on / without toe-rags he tiptoed […].1989, Elias Lönnrot, translated by Keith Bosley, The Kalevala, section XLIV:
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Alternative Alternative form of toerag (“A worthless or despicable person, a tramp or vagrant”).
- “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.1913, D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, Penguin Lawrence Edition, Penguin, published 1994, →ISBN, page 213: