Snag vs Nag - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between snag and nag

is that snag is a stump or base of a branch that has been lopped off; a short branch, or a sharp or rough branch; a knot; a protuberance while nag is a small horse; a pony.

As verbs the difference between snag and nag

is that snag is to catch or tear (e.g. fabric) upon a rough surface or projection while nag is to repeatedly remind or complain to someone in an annoying way, often about insignificant matters.

snag

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)

A stump or base of a branch that has been lopped off; a short branch, or a sharp or rough branch; a knot; a protuberance.

* Dryden

The coat of arms / Now on a naked snag in triumph borne.

Any sharp protuberant part of an object, which may catch, scratch, or tear other objects brought into contact with it.

A tooth projecting beyond the rest; a broken or decayed tooth.

(Prior)

A tree, or a branch of a tree, fixed in the bottom of a river or other navigable water, and rising nearly or quite to the surface, by which boats are sometimes pierced and sunk.

(figuratively) A problem or difficulty with something.

A pulled thread or yarn, as in cloth.

One of the secondary branches of an antler.

Synonyms

* (problem or difficulty) hitch

Derived terms

* snaggy * snaglike

Verb

(snagg)

To catch or tear (e.g. fabric) upon a rough surface or projection.

Be careful not to snag your stockings on that concrete bench!

(fishing) To fish by means of dragging a large hook or hooks on a line, intending to impale the body (rather than the mouth) of the target.

We snagged for spoonbill from the eastern shore of the Mississippi river.

(slang) To obtain or pick up (something).

Ella snagged a bottle of water from the fridge before leaving for her jog.

(UK, dialect) To cut the snags or branches from, as the stem of a tree; to hew roughly.

(Halliwell)

Etymology 2

Noun

(en noun)

(UK, dialect, obsolete) A light meal.

(Australia, informal, colloquial) A sausage.

* 2005 , Peter Docker, Someone Else?s Country , 2010, ReadHowYouWant, page 116,

I fire up the barbie and start cooking snags .

* 2007 , Jim Ford, Don't Worry, Be Happy: Beijing to Bombay with a Backpack , page 196,

‘You can get the chooks and snags from the fridge if you want,’ he replied.

I smiled, remembering my bewilderment upon receiving exactly the same command at my very first barbecue back in Sydney a month after I?d first arrived.

* 2010 , Fiona Wallace, Sense and Celebrity , page 25,

‘Hungry? We?ve got plenty of roo,’ one of the men said as she walked up. He pointed with his spatula, ‘and pig snags', cow ' snags , beef and chicken.’

Synonyms

* (sausage) banger (qualifier)

Etymology 3

Noun

(en noun)

A misnaged, an opponent to Chassidic Judaism (more likely modern, for cultural reasons).

Anagrams

* (l) * (l) * (l) * (l) ----

nag

English

Etymology 1

(etyl) nagge'', cognate with Dutch ''negge

Noun

(en noun)

A small horse; a pony.

An old useless horse.

(obsolete, derogatory) A paramour.

* 1598 , , III. x. 11:

Yon ribaudred nag of Egypt – Whom leprosy o'ertake!

Synonyms

* (old useless horse) dobbin, hack, jade, plug

Coordinate terms

* (old useless horse) bum (racing )

Etymology 2

Probably from a (etyl) source; compare Swedish .

Verb

(nagg)

To repeatedly remind or complain to someone in an annoying way, often about insignificant matters.

To act inappropriately in the eyes of peers, to backstab, to verbally abuse.

To bother with persistent memories.

The notion that he forgot something nagged him the rest of the day.

Other sorts of persistent annoyance, e.g.:

A nagging pain in his left knee

A nagging north wind

Noun

(en noun)

One who .

Anagrams

* * * * ----