English▸ verb
(nags, nagging, nagged)
[with object] annoy or irritate (a person) with persistent fault-finding or continuous urging: she constantly nags her daughter about getting married
[with infinitive] she nagged him to do the housework
[no object] he's always nagging at her for staying out late.
▪ be persistently painful, troublesome, or worrying to:
[no object] something nagged at the back of his mind.
▸ noun a person who nags someone.
▪ a persistent feeling of anxiety:
he felt once again that little nag of doubt.
– ORIGIN early 19th century (originally dialect in the sense ‘gnaw’): perhaps of Scandinavian or Low German origin; compare with Norwegian and Swedish nagga ‘gnaw, irritate’ and Low German (g)naggen ‘provoke’.