How to use shag in a sentence

30 example sentences · noun, verb, adjective

Shag means matted material; rough massed hair, fibres etc. Example: “I've been unlaid since my boyfriend left me 5 months ago, so I'm desperate for a shag!”

Examples of shag by meaning

nounCoarse shredded tobacco.

He was rather unshaven as well and smelt strongly of shag.1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet; 2), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 535

nounA deliberately messy, shaggy hairstyle.

On a Saturday – nowadays you can't even imagine it – but imagine a hair salon having a lineup outside of people wanting to get a shag haircut.2011, Liz Worth, Gary Pig Gold, Treat Me Like Dirt: An Oral History of Punk in Toronto and Beyond 1977-1981, page 16

nounAny of several species of sea birds in the family Phalacrocoracidae (cormorant family), especially a common shag or...

It was not a duck but a shag.1941, Ernestine Hill, My Love Must Wait, A&R Classics, published 2013, page 7
St Francis of Assisi would be pushed to claim that young Shags are endearing.1983, Bill Oddie, Gone Birding, London: Methuen, page 131

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

Chris is off somewhere in the darkness, but I'm not going to shag after him.1974, Robert M[aynard] Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow & Company...

nounA swing dance.

The Lindy Hop, Truckin', the Susie Q, the Shag.1954, Ian Fleming, “Nigger Heaven”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 52
Its evolutionary course is unclear; however, by the late thirties, Shag was all the rage both on and off college campuses.2011, Tamara Stevens, Erin Stevens, editors, Swing Dancing, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 120

nounFriend; mate; buddy.

Oh and her old man is a scouser!!¶ You all still sound like a bunch of inbreds though but it's better than the Hereford accent "alright shag where you be"2008 January 9, ex_rubberdagger [username], “The Guzz Accent”, in Navy Net Forums
"Alright shag?" he said like we were best mates.2010, John Featherstone, Hangman's Got The Blues
Anyways, I'll check in every now and then, cheers shag :-)2015 February 18, “Not had a fag for weeks”, in Reddit, r/TheRedLion

adjectiveExhausted, worn out, extremely tired.

I suppose they could not really blame us for feeling so shack after doing PT, drill and other boring lessons in the morning.1994, C. S. Chong, NS: An Air-Level Story, →ISBN, page 33

More sentences with shag

I've been unlaid since my boyfriend left me 5 months ago, so I'm desperate for a shag!From the entry unlaid
They shagged in a windy bus shelter.From the entry windy
Most of the gang were trying their best to shag the girls.2014, Anthony Bunko, Lord Forgive Me, page 71. From the entry banana
Why do you think he never gets a shag?' 'Why?' 'Because he's minging!' 'So?2011, Melvin Burgess, Kill All Enemies, Penguin UK, →ISBN. From the entry minging
So you can tell a shag from a "Snag" - sensitive new age guy.2006 September 22, Jason Deans, “Single white media male. GSOH …”, in The Guardian. From the entry snag
Then tell him his daughter's an epic shag.2018, Anthony McCarten, Bohemian Rhapsody (motion picture), spoken by Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek). From the entry epic
Ever since that first shag, his grades and interest in school had plummeted like a sad sack of stones.2012, Albert Wendt, “Absences”, in Ancestry, Wellington: Huia Publishers, →ISBN. From the entry blotto
And we went to a school where some girls would shag you for a bag of chips and a croggy home.2012, Adele Parks, Young Wives' Tales. From the entry croggy
He never gets a shag.' 'No, Cookie.2011, Melvin Burgess, Kill All Enemies, Penguin UK, →ISBN. From the entry minging
He always had a shagger, a caddy who put the shag bag right in front of his feet.2011, Jim McLean, Tom McCarthy, The Complete Hogan: A Shot-by-Shot Analysis of Golf′s Greatest Swing, unnumbered page. From the entry shagger
I thought this was other biz, not a shag call.'2011, Ken Bruen, Her Last Call to Louis MacNeice. From the entry brassen
Now he's saddled Malice with two sprogs and he's probably shagging another maid or two as we speak.2008, Simon Oliver, Change. From the entry tuss
It was thick and sticky-uppy like a shag rug.2007, Simmone Howell, Notes from the Teenage Underground, Bloomsbury U.S.A. Children's Books, →ISBN, page 158. From the entry sticky-uppy
This 'lightning shag' will give you 'hand' as most women hate the idea of being 'pumped and dumped'.2005, Johnny Blue, The Blue Riders' Club, Trafford Publishing, published 2005, →ISBN, page 97. From the entry pump and dump
He still carried the basket with the shags and pig-weed.1941, Ernestine Hill, My Love Must Wait, A&R Classics, published 2013, page 11. From the entry pigweed
We bounce from Bisset and Seymour’s increasingly happy shagging to Worsley, the willing cuck, watching on and, finally, the trial that Worsley brings against Bisset.2015 August 17, Filipa Jodelka, The Guardian. From the entry cuck
Starrs guide captures the myriad recreational opportunities along the South Carolina coast, from shell collecting and moongazing to beer drinking and shag dancing.2001, William W. Starr, A Guide to South Carolina Beaches. From the entry moongazing
Corrine parks in shadows in a corner of the parking lot and proceeds to put all the seats down to make the wagon a shagging wagon, for sure.2017, Save Horton, Mike's Navy - part five: Changes. From the entry shagging wagon
She chatters, mainly to Simon, pointing out a circling mollymawk, a line of shags winging away from Maukiekie, a penguin that surfaces not far from the boat.1983, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, Penguin, published 1986, page 210. From the entry mollymawk

Meaning of shag

noun Matted material; rough massed hair, fibres etc.
noun Coarse shredded tobacco.
noun A type of rough carpet pile.

Full definition of shag

Questions about shag in a sentence

How do you use shag in a sentence?: Shag is used as a noun, verb and adjective. For example: “I've been unlaid since my boyfriend left me 5 months ago, so I'm desperate for a shag!”
What is a short sentence with shag?: “He never gets a shag.' 'No, Cookie.”
What does shag mean?: Shag means matted material; rough massed hair, fibres etc.

Adapted from Wiktionary: shag (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use shag in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/shag. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.