To bully or harass someone persistently; to intimidate or treat someone badly in a mean-spirited way.
First recorded in the 1680s, likely combining 'bully' with 'rag' (to tease or scold harshly, possibly imitative or from Scandinavian origins). The word emerged during an era of street violence in London when such behavior was common and named.
Some verbs pack whole stories into their sounds: 'bullyrag' almost sounds like an action itself, with the hard 'g' making it feel aggressive. What's wild is that this word became widespread in American English, especially in accounts of frontier and naval life, suggesting that certain communities had specific names for the bullying they regularly experienced.
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