Shag vs Surface - What's the difference?

shag | surface | Related terms |

In transitive terms the difference between shag and surface

is that shag is to make hairy or shaggy; to roughen while surface is to apply a surface to something.

In intransitive terms the difference between shag and surface

is that shag is to shake, wiggle around while surface is to appear or be found.

As an adjective shag

is hairy; shaggy.

shag

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) ), from Old Norse skaga, to protrude.

Noun

(en noun)

Matted material; rough massed hair, fibres etc.

* (John Gay)

true Witney broadcloth, with its shag unshorn

Coarse shredded tobacco.

* 1978 , (Lawrence Durrell), Livia'', Faber & Faber 1992 (''Avignon Quintet ), p. 535:

He was rather unshaven as well and smelt strongly of shag .

A type of rough carpet pile.

Derived terms

* shaggy * shagginess * shaggy-dog story * shagger

Verb

(shagg)

To make hairy or shaggy; to roughen.

* J. Barlow

Shag the green zone that bounds the boreal skies.

Adjective

(en adjective)

(obsolete) hairy; shaggy

(Shakespeare)

Etymology 2

(Common Shag) Perhaps a derivative of Etymology 1, above, with reference to the bird's shaggy crest.

Noun

(en noun)

Several species of sea birds in the family Phalacrocoracidae (cormorant family), especially the , Phalacrocorax aristotelis , found on European and African coasts.

*1941 , (Ernestine Hill), My Love Must Wait , A&R Classics 2013, p. 7:

*:He ran back and picked up a dead bird that had fallen. It was not a duck but a shag .

Derived terms

* Auckland shag () * Bounty shag () * Campbell shag () * Chatham shag () * Heard shag () * imperial shag () * Kerguelen shag () * king shag () * Macquarie shag () * Stewart Island shag ()

Etymology 3

From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) caused the analogical replacement of the stem-final voiceless geminate consonants with voiced geminates, which was then leveled throughout the paradigm.

Verb

(shagg)

To shake, wiggle around.

To have sexual intercourse with.

To masturbate.

To chase after; especially, to chase after and return (a ball) hit usually out of play

* {{quote-book

, year=1974 , year_published=1999 , edition=paperback , editor= , author=Robert M. Pirsig , title=Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance , chapter= , url= , genre= , publisher=Harper Torch , isbn=9780060589462 , page=77 , passage=Chris is off somewhere in the darkness, but I'm not going to shag after him. }}

To perform the dance called the shag.

Noun

(en noun)

A swing dance.

(slang) An act of sexual intercourse.

* 2007 , Julie Andrews, "Roman Must Die", in The Leonard Variations: Clarion 2007 San Diego , ISBN 9787774574500, page 10:

They were in the midst of an intense snog, his tongue down her throat as he tried to work out if he wanted another shag before she left for the night, when an odd noise sounded from behind the door of 2B.

* 2010 , Clara Darling, Hot City Nights , St. Martin's Press (2010), ISBN 9780312536954, page 107:

“And feel free to come over anytime you'd like a drink and a shag .

* 2011 , Josephine Myles, Barging In , Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (2011), ISBN 9781609285920, page 24:

He could say yes, then just quietly leave the area without ever seeing the man again. He could even get a shag out of Charles first.

(slang) A casual sexual partner.

* 2003 , Freya North, Pip , Harper (2003), ISBN 9780007462254, unnumbered page:

'It turned out that it was me who was just a shag to him . He had a girlfriend I didn't know about. He presumed I was up for some no-strings action. And the thing is, I thought I was – in theory. But in practice, I realized that I wasn't.'

* 2008 , Bruce Cooke, Trace Elements , Eternal Press (2008), ISBN 9781897559369, page 56:

"Was I just another shag to you, Trace? Someone to bed when the offer came?"

* 2011 , Wes Lee, "Saul", in The Sleepers Almanac, No. 7 (eds. Zoe Dattner & Louise Swinn), Sleepers Publishing (2011), ISBN 9781742702995, page 135:

'Your favourite shag ?' I ask her.

'Martin Kershen.'

'He was a sexy beast.'

Synonyms

* (casual sexual partner) see also .

Etymology 4

Blend of .

Noun

(en noun)

(Canada, Northwestern Ontario) A fundraising dance in honour of a couple engaged to be married.

Synonyms

* stag and doe, stag and doe party (qualifier) * social, wedding social (qualifier)

References

Anagrams

* gash * hags

Synonyms

* See also English blends English terms with unknown etymologies ----

surface

English

Noun

(en noun)

The overside or up-side of a flat object such as a table, or of a liquid.

*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)

, chapter=Foreword citation , passage=A very neat old woman, still in her good outdoor coat and best beehive hat, was sitting at a polished mahogany table on whose surface there were several scored scratches so deep that a triangular piece of the veneer had come cleanly away,

The outside hull of a tangible object.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-11, volume=407, issue=8835, page=80, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= The climate of Tibet: Pole-land , passage=Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.}}

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Welcome to the plastisphere , passage=[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across.}}

(lb) Outward or external appearance.

*(Vicesimus Knox) (1752-1821)

*:Vain and weak understandings, which penetrate no deeper than the surface .

*:“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable,.

The locus of an equation (especially one with exactly two degrees of freedom) in a more-than-two-dimensional space.

(lb) That part of the side which is terminated by the flank prolonged, and the angle of the nearest bastion.

:(Stocqueler)

Synonyms

* overside * superfice (archaic)

Derived terms

* surface mail * surficial

Verb

To provide something with a surface.

To apply a surface to something.

To rise to the surface.

To come out of hiding.

For information or facts to become known.

To work a mine near the surface.

To appear or be found.