A tatter, hence a remnant, hence a vagabond or ragamuffin.
“Lash hence these overweening rags of France.”
Shakespeare: Richard III., v. 3.
Rag. A cant term for a farthing. Paper money not easily convertible is called “rag-money.”
“Money by me? Heart and good-will you might,
But surely, master, not a rag of money.”
Shakespeare: Comedy of Errors, iv. 4.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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