scrag
[verb]
Synonyms: hang, gibbet, noose, string (up), turn off, kill, carry off, cut off, destroy, dispatch, finish, lay low, put away, slay, take off, murder, assassinate, bump off, cool, do in, dust off, execute, knock off, liquidate

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

scrag verb trans. [skrag] Infl. -gg-. M18.
[from SCRAG noun¹. In sense 3 perh. back-form. from SCRAGGY adjective¹.]
1. slang.
a. Execute by hanging. Also, wring the neck of, strangle. M18.
b. Seize roughly by the neck; treat (a person) roughly, manhandle. M19.
c. Kill, murder. US. M20.

2. Subject (a spring or suspension system) to a process of overextension and compression in order to improve strength and set. Also, (foll. by out) shorten the normal length of a spring by a specified amount by this means. Freq. as scragging verbal noun & ppl adjective. E20.

3. Scrape or drag (esp. the hair) back or up. rare. M20.
■ L. Durrell Their hair scragged up in ribbons and plaits.

■ scragger noun (rare) a person who or thing which scrags someone or something; spec. (arch. colloq.) a hangman: L19.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲

scrag noun¹. [skrag] M16.
[Perh. alt. of CRAG noun². In sense 4 from the verb.]
1. A skinny person or animal. derog. M16.
■ T. Dekker Not so leane a hollow-cheekt Scrag as thou art.
■ Sir W. Scott I had been..on a little scrag of a Cossack.

2. In full scrag-end. The inferior end of a neck of mutton. M17.
■ C. Lamb Our scanty mutton scrags on Fridays.
■ A. Burgess She cooks tasty meals out of scrag end.

3. The neck, esp. of a person. colloq. E19.
■ C. Brontë Fastened round my bronze scrag under my cravat.

4. A rough tackle in rugby football. slang. rare. E20.
■ P. G. Wodehouse The difference between a decent tackle and a bally scrag.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲

scrag noun². [skrag] Now chiefly dial. M16.
[Origin uncertain: perh. alt. of CRAG noun¹. Cf. SCRAGGED adjective¹, SCROG, SHRAG.]
1. A tree stump. Also, a roughly projecting branch, outcrop, etc. M16.

2. In full scrag-whale. The grey whale, Eschrichtius gibbosus, which has a humped ridge in place of a dorsal fin. Now rare. E18.

3. Rough, rocky, and barren ground. rare. M19.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲