Scrag

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A person or creature exhibiting extreme leanness can be described, while the action of forcefully compressing or twisting the neck is also indicated, along with the notion of creating a choking grip around the throat area
2. A person or animal that appears unusually lean or bony ; to seize and twist or compress the neck aggressively
3. Describing a creature or individual marked by a gaunt or skinny appearance ; to apply a forceful grip around someone's throat, often twisting it

Etymology: "Scrag" is one of those words whose origin is genuinely uncertain. The most likely candidates are Scandinavian: Norwegian "skragg," used for a lean, bony person, and Swedish dialect "skragge," meaning an old, torn thing. Danish "skrog," meaning a hull or carcass, may also belong to the family. Some etymologists suggest a link to "shrink," which would fit the idea of something wasted down to bare bones. The meanings seem to hang together around the image of a scrawny, skeletal body. A "scrag" was first a thin creature, whether a person or an animal, and the sense of seizing and twisting a neck appears to grow from the same picture of something thin and stringy, the scrawny neck of a fowl or sheep. The link is more an inference from the word's shape than a documented chain of development.

Synonyms: scraggy, thin

Antonyms: plump, fat