Ballyrag

Ballyrag is a verb that means to intimidate by bullying.  The origin of our word of the day is unclear, but you can think of it as a synonym for words like ‘berate,’ ‘scold,’ and, of course, ‘bully.’ Here’s an example: I tried to ballyrag everybody in the office into allowing me to listen to non-stop polka music. It didn’t work out so well. I guess there are some things people just can’t get bullied into.