Source : Wright, Joseph English Dialect Dictionary
web : https://eddonline4-proj.uibk.ac.at/edd/main.html

NAG, sb.1 Sc. Cum. Der. War. Wor. Oxf. Cor. [nag,
næg.] 1. In comb. (1) Nag-back, horseback; (2) Nag-ridden,
troubled with nightmare.
(1) Cum. Thirty gang to t'kurk o' nag-back, Ritson Borrowdale
Lett. (1787) 5, ed. 1849. (2) Cor.1 Cor.2
2. Phr. to go on a nag of ten toes, to walk. Oxf.1 MS. add.
3. A saddle-horse, as distinguished from a cart-horse.
Sc. Dalrymple Gl. (c. 1800) 26. Midl. Marshall Rur. Econ.
(1796). Der.1, nw.Der.1, War.2 War.4, s.War.1, s.Wor. (H.K.), Oxf.1
MS. add.
Hence (1) Nag-horse, sb. a saddle-horse. s.Wor. (H.K.);
(2) Nag-saddle, sb. a saddle used for riding in contrast to the
saddle or pad used for driving horses. H.K.

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NAG, sb.2 N.Cy.1 Nhb.1 [nag.] A sour taste; an
unpleasant flavour; gen. of liquor.

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NAG, sb.3 Yks. The same word as Knag, sb.3 (q.v.)
Morton Cyclo. Agric. (1863).

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NAG, sb.4 Sc. Irel. [nag.] A wooden ball used in
various games such as ‘shinney.’ Cf. knur(r, nigg.
Abd. It matter'd nae whether the bools or the buffets, The
gird, tap or pear, at the time was the play, We gladly relinquish'd
the nags or the cuffets, Cadenhead Bon-Accord (1853) 256. N.I.1
Ant. Ballymena Obs. (1892).

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NAG, v. and sb.5 Sc. Lakel. Cum. Yks. Lin. Oxf. Hmp.
Also written knag Cum.; nagg s.Hmp.; and in forms
naeg w.Yks.; naig Lakel.2; narg Abd.; nayg Lan.;
neg Sc. (Jam. Suppl.); niaag, niag Sh.&Ork.1; nyarg
Bnff.1 Abd. (Jam.) [nag, næg, nēg, neəg.] 1. v. To
bite; to snap; to mark with the teeth; to seize. w.Sc.,
s.Sc. (Jam. Suppl.) See Gnag. 2. To nick; to notch or
hack with a sharp instrument; to chip; to slit. w.Sc.,
s.Sc. (Jam. Suppl.), Lin. (Hall.) 3. To strike smartly;
to beat. Lnk. (Jam.) Hence (1) Naggin, vbl. sb. the act
of striking the knuckles with a marble in the game of
‘nags.’ Abd., Cld. (Jam.); (2) Nags, sb. a game of marbles,
in which the loser has his knuckles struck a certain
number of times with the marbles of the other players.
(JAM.) 4. To find fault with continually; to carp at; to
quarrel peevishly; to fret; to worry. See Gnag.
Sc. (Jam. Suppl.), Sh.&Ork.1 Bnff.1 The twa dee nocht bit
nyarg wee ane anither. Abd. Francisque-Michel Lang. (1882)
293. w.Yks. Tha naegs me to deeath, Hlfx. Courier (May 29,
1897). s.Oxf. Not like some as 'ud ha' bin always naggin' at 'im,
Rosemary Chilterns (1895) 127. e.Suf. (F.H.) s.Hmp. To have
a tongue to nagg folk's lives out, Verney L. Lisle (1870) xxvii.
Hence Nagging, ppl. adj. finding fault continually and
peevishly; fretful. Sh.&Ork.1, Bnff.1
5. To jeer, taunt. Abd. (Jam.) Hence Nyargie, adj.
jeering. JAM. 6. Of pain: to keep up a dull ache.
Lakel.2 Mi' teeth naig and wark.
7. To labour persistently and painfully; to repeat an
action with irritating frequency. See Gnag, 4.
Sc. (Jam. Suppl.), Sh.&Ork.1 w.Yks. He's aulus nagin at his
wark (D.L.). Lan. ‘Heaw are yo gettin on?’ ‘O none so weel, bud
aw keeps naygin at it, us ard us aw con,’ Manch. Cy. News (Jan.
10, 1900).
8. sb. A bite; a snap. Sc. (Jam. Suppl.) 9. A nick;
a hack; a notch; an indentation made with a sharp
instrument. (JAM.) 10. A stroke in the game of ‘nags.’
Abd., Cld. (Jam.) 11. A snappish retort; continual fault-finding;
peevish quarrelling.
Sc. (Jam. Suppl.), Bnff.1 Cum. Aw' knag, an' clash, Gilpin
Sngs. (1866) 275; Cum.4

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NAG, sb.6 Dev. [næg.] See below.
n.Dev. There is a local legend that this and a like boulder on
Dare-down were used by the giants, in the days when giants lived
in Devonshire, as ‘Nags’ or Quoit pins, Hand-bk. (ed. 1877) 53.

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NAG, see Gnag.

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NAG, NAGG, sb. Sc. The same word as Knag, sb.1 2 (q.v.).
Gall. Hung carefully upon some nag, Mactaggart Encycl. (1824)
45, 357, ed. 1876.

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NAG, NAGG, sb. Sc. The same word as Knag, sb.1 2 (q.v.).
Gall. Hung carefully upon some nag, Mactaggart Encycl. (1824)
45, 357, ed. 1876.

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NAG, sb.2 Cum. (E.W.P.)

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NAG, sb.4 Glo. Written cnagg. Horae Subsecivae
(1777) 398.

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NAG, v. 2. War.

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