scragged

noun

1. a lean or scrawny person or animal.
2. the lean end of a neck of veal or mutton.
3. Slang. the neck of a human being.

verb (used with object), scragged, scrag·ging.

4. Slang. to wring the neck of; hang; garrote.
5. Metallurgy. to test (spring steel) by bending.

noun

1. a thin or scrawny person or animal
2. the lean end of a neck of veal or mutton
3. informal the neck of a human being

verb scrags, scragging or scragged (tr)

4. informal to wring the neck of; throttle

n.1540s, “lean person or animal, a raw-bones;” perhaps from a Scandinavian source (cf. Norwegian skragg “a lean person;” dialectal Swedish skraka “a great, dry tree; a long, lean man,” skragge “old and torn thing,” Danish skrog “hull of a ship, carcass,” Icelandic skröggr, a nickname of the fox); perhaps from root of shrink.