▪ I. bag, n.
(bæg)
Forms: 3–7 bagge, 6–7 bagg, 4– bag.
[Early ME. bagge: cf. ON. baggi ‘bag, pack, bundle’ (not elsewhere in Teutonic); also OF. bague, Pr. bagua baggage, med.L. baga chest, sack. The Eng. was possibly from the ON.; but the source of this, as well as of the Romanic words, is unknown; the Celtic derivation suggested by Diez is not tenable: Gaelic bag is from English. Of connexion with Teutonic *balgi-z, Goth. balgs, OE. bęlᵹ, bælᵹ, bæliᵹ, whence belly, bellows, and the cogn. Celtic bolg, balg, there is no evidence.]
I. General sense.
1. a. A receptacle made of some flexible material closed in on all sides except at the top (where also it generally can be closed); a pouch, a small sack.
| c 1230 Ancr. R. 168 Hit is beggares rihte uorte beren bagge on bac; & burgeises for to beren purses. Ibid., Trusseaus, & purses, baggen, & packes. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 41 Til heor Bagges and heore Balies weren [bratful] I-crommet. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 21 Bagge, or poke: Sacculus. 1513 Bk. Keruynge in Babees Bk. 267 Haue fyue or syxe bagges for your ypocras to renne in, &..basyns to stande vnder your bagges. 1535 Coverdale 1 Sam. xvii. 40 And put them in the shepardes bagge which he had. 1622 R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 80 Any man that putteth himself into the enemies port, had need of Argus eyes, and the wind in a bagge. 1626 Bacon Sylva §6 Passing it through a woolen bagg. 1653 Walton Angler 138 He would usually take three or four worms out of his bag. 1662 Fuller Worthies (1811) II. 579 (D.) Our English by-word to express such betwixt whom there is apparent odds of strength, ‘He is able to put him up in a Bagge.’ 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 63 The younger people..with bag and basket..went nutting. |
b. green bag,
blue bag: a barrister's brief-bag.
| 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull (1755) 29 You will carry a green bag yourself, rather than we shall make an end of our law⁓suit. 1788 in G. Rose Diaries (1860) I. 96 Mr. Pitt had resolved..‘to take his blue bag, and return to the bar.’ |
c. A base in baseball (see
quot. 1857).
U.S.| [1857 Spirit of Times 28 Feb. 420/3 The first, second, and third bases shall be canvas bags, painted white, and filled with sand or saw-dust.] 1873 Forest & Stream 20 Nov. 231/1 In this inning, through error, the Princetons succeeded in getting the bags full, with no men out. 1917 C. Mathewson Sec. Base Sloane xiii. 177 Hunt was two yards from the bag when the ball reached third base. |
d. fig. A preoccupation, mode of behaviour or experience; a distinctive style or category;
esp. a characteristic manner of playing jazz or similar music.
Cf. bag of tricks (sense 18 a below).
slang (
orig. U.S.).
| 1960 J. Hendricks in D. Cerulli et al. Jazz Word (1962) 140 Lack of acceptance is a drag... Man, that's really in another bag. 1962 Jazz Jrnl. Mar. 30 ‘Bag’ is a current piece of trade jargon for hip musicians, and means something between a personal style and a body of work. 1966 Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 13 Feb. 35/4 ‘His bag is paper sculpture’, ‘she's in a folk-song bag right now’. 1966 Crescendo Dec. 16/1 Singing blues with Basie is another kind of bag. |
2. With various substantives defining its purpose, the two words being hyphened, as
air-,
bread-,
cloak-,
game-,
mail-,
money-,
post-,
soot-,
travelling-. See also
carpet-bag n.,
nose-bag,
wind-bag.
| 1711 Addison Spect. No. 3 ¶8 The Hill of Mony Bags, and the Heaps of Mony. 1711 Steele ibid. No. 132 ¶1 His Cloke-bag was fixed in the Seat of the Coach. 1716 in Lond. Gaz. No. 5411/4 Pistol-Bags of grey Cloth. 1782 A. Monro Compar. Anat. 60 The construction and dilatation of the air-bag. 1814 Moore Post Bag 284 The honour and delight of first ransacking the Post Bag. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy xii, There's nothing about bread bags in the articles of war, sir. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. iv. v. 234 Our ‘redoubts of cotton-bags’ are taken. 1862 Griffiths Artill. Man. 220 Three feeds in the corn-bag. 1863 Kingsley Water-Bab. i. 18 Not if it's in the bottom of the soot-bag. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 217 Travelling-bags..steamer bags, tourists' bags, railroad bags, pic-nic bags, dress-suit bags, hand bags, shopping bags, brief bags. |
II. Specific uses.
3. = Money-bag, purse.
| 1393 Gower Conf. II. 284 Be so the bagge and he [the avarous] accorden, Him reccheth nought what men recorden Of him. 1530 Palsgr. 196/2 Bagge, a purse. 1572 Lament. Lady Scot. in Scot. Poems 16th C. (1801) II. 249 Gif sum sect knaw that they haue geir or baggs. 1596 Bp. Barlow Three Serm. i. 120 Laying the payment..vpon their parentes bagges. 1611 Bible John xii. 6 Because he was a thief, and had the bag. 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts 230 A wealthy foole doth in vain hope by all his bagges to purchase wisedome. 1765 Tucker Lt. Nat. II. 519 The covetous man likes to count over his bags. |
† 4. poet. in
pl. Bagpipes.
Obs. Cf. pipes.
| c 1275 Mapes Body & Soul 50 This pipers that this bagges blewen. 1790 Scots Songs II. 36 Then to his bags he flew wi' speed, About the drone he twisted. |
5. A small silken pouch to contain the back-hair of a wig;
cf. bag-wig.
| 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3864/4 A short man..wears a Peruke ty'd up in a Bag. 1793 T. Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 487 It was understood..that gentlemen should be dressed in bags. 1806 A. Duncan Nelson's Fun. 13 Two attendants..in full mourning dress, with black gowns, swords, and bags. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. II. vi. vii. 213 He cannot..change the graceful French bag into the strict Prussian queue in a moment. |
6. A measure of quantity for produce, varying according to the nature of the commodity.
| 1679 Bedloe Popish Plot 15 Removing some Baggs of Hopps. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v., A bag of almonds..is about 3 hundred weight. 1845 Morn. Chron. 22 Nov. 5/2 Potatoes..There are three bushels to the bag. |
7. a. = Mail-bag, post-bag; mail.
| 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3814/4 Write by Ormskirk Bag. 1781 Cowper Lett. 23 May, The boy has lost the bag in which your letter must have been. 1814 Moore Post Bag 283 The Bag from which the following Letters are selected. |
b. A diplomatic bag.
| 1816 H. Brougham Let. in H. Maxwell Creevey Papers (1903) I. xi. 252, I think it better to trust this to the post than to any of their d—d bags. 1852 Thackeray Let. 15 Mar. (1946) III. 25 When Wm. Grey goes to Paris you'll have the use of the bag again. 1964 Times 6 July 11/3 It [sc. reciprocity] should mean..that embassies and bags are inviolate. |
† 8. Med. A kind of poultice.
Obs.| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Bag..a kind of fomentation..of proper ingredients, inclosed in a bag. |
9. Sporting.
= Game-bag;
hence, the contents of a game-bag, the quantity of fish or game however large (embracing
e.g. elephants and buffaloes) killed at one time; the produce of a hunting, fishing, or shooting expedition.
fig. Hence in
pl. (
slang), much, many, ‘heaps’.
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans B iij, Ye most take a partrich in yowre bagge. 1530 Palsgr. 196/2 A fauconner's bagge, gibissière. 1858 W. H. Russell My Diary in India 16 Mar. (1860) I. xxi. 348 The philanthropists who were cheering each other with the thought that there was sure ‘to be a good bag at Lucknow’, will be disappointed. 1863 Speke Discov. Nile 36 ‘The bags’ we made counted two brindled gnu, four water-boc, one pallah-boc, and one pig. 1865 Ruskin Sesame i. 84 The chance of a brace or two of game less in your own bag in a day's shooting. 1867 F. Francis Angling i. (1880) 29 The artist in roach-fishing alone will make a fair bag on an indifferent day. 1900 Daily News 9 June 5/5 Our bag was 4 engines and 84 trucks, with a quantity of coal. 1917 P. H. Gibbs Battles of Somme 105 ‘We took bags of ‘em [sc. Germans],’ said an officer. 1919 W. H. Downing Digger Dialects 9 Bags, plenty; a large number. 1919 J. B. Morton Barber of Putney xiii. 209 It's not gay, this life, but it might be bags worse. Ibid. xvii. 285 There's bags of good names, and yet blokes go an' call their kids Ermyntrude. 1930 Brophy & Partridge Songs & Slang Brit. Soldier 1914–18 96 Bags, plenty, lots. E.g. ‘Got any bully?’—‘Yes, bags of it.’ And especially bags of room. 1930 C. V. Grimmett Getting Wickets i. 32 It was with Prahran that I recorded my big successes in club cricket, my ‘bags’ in four seasons being 67, 39, 68 and 56 wickets respectively. 1940 I. Halstead Wings of Victory i. ii. 56 What his personal ‘bag’ was I don't know—certainly it was over twenty. 1945 R. L. Seddon Whims of W.A.A.F. 14 With ‘bags’ of ambition. 1955 Times 19 Aug. 2/5 A retrospective exhibition..an exhibition of drawings..and now a film..this is Picasso's ‘bag’ for the summer of 1955. 1962 A. Wesker Chips with Everything i. i. 12 We 'ad bags o' fun, bags o' it. |
| fig. 1881 Sir W. Harcourt Sp. Glasgow 26 Oct., Lord Salisbury and Sir S. Northcote..had a rattling day at Newcastle and Beverley—but I ask myself what is their bag? |
III. Transferred senses; bag-like objects.
10. An udder, a dug.
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Feb. 81 Thy Ewes, that wont to haue blowen bags. 1642 H. More Pre-exist. Soul xlvii. (D.) Those wicked Hags..whose writhled bags Foul fiends oft suck. 1697 Dryden Virg. Eclog. ix. 41 So may thy Cows their burden'd Bags distend. 1784 Twamley Dairying 97 Cows with good bags. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits v. 99 The cow is sacrificed to her bag, the ox to his surloin. |
11. A sac (in the body of animal) containing honey, poison, etc. (Chiefly
fig.)
| 1529 Latimer Serm. (1844) 20 Yet there may remain a bag of rusty malice, 20 years old, in thy neighbour's bosom. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. i. 171 The honie-bags steale from the humble Bees. a 1700 Dryden (J.) The swelling poison of the several sects Shall burst its bag. 1818 Byron Juan i. ccxiv, Hived in our bosoms like the bag o' the bee. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. i. iv. 33 While sting and poison-bag were left. |
12. a. A baggy place, a fold.
| 1572 L. Mascall Govt. Cattle (1627) 160 Bagge, is in the weekes of the horse mouth. |
b. spec. in
Leather Industry (see
quot.).
| 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. 105 Bag, in leather-manuf., fullness in the middle of a skin which prevents it from lying out flat and smooth. |
c. A fold of loose skin beneath the (human) eyes. Usu. in
pl.| 1867 W. Allingham Diary 10 June in H. Gernsheim J. M. Cameron (1948) 25, I want to do a large photograph of Tennyson and he objects! Says I make bags under his eyes. 1894 Somerville & ‘Ross’ Real Charlotte I. x. 147 The dark bags of skin under Julia Duffy's eyes became slowly red. 1910 J. Buchan Prester John xix. 316, I caught a glimpse of my face in it,..lined with blue bags below the eyes. 1938 H. G. Wells Apropos of Dolores iv. 174 His large grey eyes had if anything got larger and the lower lids lower. He has bags under them. |
13. pl. The stomach, entrails. (
north. dial. and
Sc.)
14. Coal-mining. A cavity filled with gas or water.
| a 1733 North Life Guilford (1808) I. 286 (D.) An account of a bag of water, which was broke in his greatest colliery. 1851 Coal-tr. Terms Northumbld. & Durh., Bag of Gas, a cavity found occasionally in fiery seams of coal, containing highly condensed gas. |
15. Naut. ‘
Bag of the Head-rails, the lowest part..or that part which forms the sweep of the rail.’ Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk. 1867.
16. fig. Clothes that hang loosely about the wearer; (
colloq.) trousers.
pl.| 1853 ‘C. Bede’ Verdant Green vi. 51 Just jump into a pair of bags and Wellingtons. 1860 Smiles Self-Help vii. 180 He..only appears stout because he puts himself into those bags (trousers). 1861 A. Trollope in Tales of all Countries (ser. 2) 136 A pair of the loosest pantaloons—I might, perhaps, better describe them as bags. 1923 D. L. Sayers Whose Body? iv. 82 I'll run round and change at the club. Can't feed with Freddie Arbuthnot in these bags. 1927 ― Unnatural Death vii. 84 Just brush my bags down, will you, old man? |
17. A disparaging term for a woman,
esp. one who is unattractive or elderly;
= baggage 6.
slang (
orig. U.S.).
| 1924 P. Marks Plastic Age xviii. 202, I don't..chase around with filthy bags or flunk my courses. 1928 Amer. Speech Feb. 218 Say, Cress, who was that bag I saw you with yesterday? 1949 T. Rattigan Harlequinade (1953) 61 That's enough from you, you old bag! 1950 Penguin New Writing XL. 45 ‘It's just like you, you dreary old bag,’ he would say to a blowsy old pro. 1961 M. Dickens Heart of London i. 77 I've never really known a pretty girl like you. At the training college they were all bags. |
IV. Phrases.
18. a. bag of bones: an emaciated living being.
the whole bag of tricks: every expedient, everything (in allusion to the fable of ‘the Fox and the Cat’). Also
bag of tricks, stock of resources; sometimes with play on other senses of ‘bag’ (old woman, etc.).
in the bottom of the bag: remaining as a last resource or expedient.
| 1659 Reynolds in Burton Diary (1828) IV. 447 If this be done, which is in the bottom of the bag, and must be done, we shall..be able to buoy up our reputation. 1838 Dickens O. Twist iv. 64 There, get down stairs, little bag o' bones. 1841 Elizur Wright tr. La Fontaine's Fables (ed. 2) xii. xviii. 314 But fox, in arts of siege well versed, Ransacked his bag of tricks accursed. 1848 Kingsley Saint's Trag. iv. iii. 204, I am almost ashamed to punish A bag of skin and bones. 1874 Hotten Slang Dict. 76 Bag of tricks, refers to the whole of a means towards a result. ‘That's the whole bag of tricks.’ 1889 G. B. Shaw Lond. Mus. (1937) 129 She relied largely for her acting on the exploitation of what is nothing but a bag of tricks. 1898 A. Bennett Man from North xvi. 152 I've had three 3 a.m. midwifery cases this week—forceps, chloroform, and the whole bag of tricks. 1909 H. G. Wells Tono-Bungay iii. ii. §3 301 Learn the whole bag of tricks in six months. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 139 She was a nice old bag of tricks. 1924 Galsworthy White Monkey iii. viii. 185 A being who completely robbed the world of its importance, ‘snooped’, as it were, the whole ‘bag of tricks’. 1936 L. C. Douglas White Banners xiii. 280 Men were all alike. A woman didn't have to carry a very big bag of tricks to achieve her purpose. 1942 ‘P. Wentworth’ Danger Point xl. 233 Fingerprints... A nice bag of tricks for our modern scientific police. You put 'em in a hat and shake 'em up, and then you put in your hand and pick your murderer. 1957 Kehoe Technique Film & T.V. Make-Up iii. 37 The make-up kit is the artist's tool box and bag of tricks. |
b. bag of mystery (
usu. in
pl. bags of m.): a sausage or saveloy.
slang.| 1864 in Hotten Slang Dict. 69. 1879 W. J. Barry Up & Down xvi. 163 A slice of bread was given with the ‘bag of mystery’, as some rowdies called the luscious saveloy. 1909 Ware Passing Eng. 15/2 If they're going to keep running-in polony fencers for putting rotten gee-gee into the bags of mystery, I hope they won't leave fried-fish-pushers alone. 1921 H. Foston At the Front xvi. 115 [Have you] any bags of mysteries, otherwise sausages? 1962 John O' London's 14 June 571/1 The bags of mystery or links of love are sausages. |
c. Colloq. phr. in the bag (
i.e. game-bag; see sense 9): (
a)
Austral. and
N.Z. (see
quot. 1945); (
b)
(to be put) in the bag, (to be) taken prisoner; (
c) (
orig. U.S.) virtually assured or secured, as good as in one's possession.
| 1900 J. Scott Tales of Colonial Turf 33 The neddy was in the bag in the Cup; he was no trier. 1945 Baker Austral. Lang. ix. 174 A horse set to lose a race is said to be in the bag. |
| 1919 J. Buchan Mr. Standfast ii. 52 Unless I went out to the Front again and got put in the bag and sent to the same Boche prison. 1956 D. M. Davin Sullen Bell ii. vii. 152 When you went in the bag the chaps probably said ‘Too bad about old Gus’. |
| 1922 San Francisco Call & Post 19 July 17 Yes, yes, yes, but listen to me—I get this from the jock himself—this is in the bag. 1926 Emporia (Kan.) Gazette 24 Sept. 1/2 After Tunney landed with that terrific right, the fight was in the bag. 1929 Liverpool Daily Courier 4 Sept. 9/1 If half the members of a Talkie audience shudder every time a character on the screen says..‘It's in the bag’, the other half make a mental note of the expression for future use. 1932 Wodehouse Hot Water i. 32 We're sitting pretty. The thing's in the bag. 1943 B. J. Hurren Eastern Med. v. 51 Crete was ‘in the bag’ for Jerry if he wished to take it. 1957 Economist 30 Nov. 765/1 The message..contains a frank warning that independence is not ‘in the bag’. |
19. † to turn to bag and wallet: to become a beggar.
to give (one) the bag to hold: to engage any one while taking the opportunity to slip away, to leave in the lurch.
to give the bag to: to leave without warning (
obs.); also in
mod. dial., to dismiss (a servant, etc.) Also
to get the bag: to be dismissed; [
Cf. to give the
sack].
to let the cat out of the bag: to disclose the secret.
to empty the bag (
Fr. vider le sac): to tell the whole story, finish the discussion.
| 1592 Greene Upst. Courtier in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 236 To giue your masters the bagge. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 161 The turning to bag and wallet of the infinite number of the poore people imploied in clothing. 1607 Dekker & Webster Westw. Hoe iv. ii. Wks. 1873 II. 340, I fear our oares haue giuen us the bag. 1647 Speedy Hue & Crie 1 He being sometime an Apprentice on London bridge..gave his Master the bag. 1760 Lond. Mag. XXIX. 224 We could have wished that the author..had not let the cat out of the bag. 1788 P. M. Freneau Misc. Wks. 414 He must give us the bag, Adhere to Old England, and sail with her flag. 1793 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) IV. 7 She will leave Spain the bag to hold. 1806 T. G. Fessenden Orig. Poems 39 ‘To give the bag’ is an expression common with the lower classes in New England, and indicates that Miss Delia will not honour Mr. Damon with her company in a tete-a-tete conversation. Ibid. 73 Jonathan..tumbled, sadly, all the way, Lest he should get the bag, sir. 1823 Scott Peveril vii, She gave me the bag to hold, and was smuggling in a corner with a rich old Puritan. 1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan II. 277 Sent away, with a flea in your ear; some girl has given you the bag. 1849 C. Brontë Shirley III. xiv. 300 This last epithet I choose to suppress, because it would let the cat out of the bag. 1870 etc. [see E.D.D.]. 1871 W. S. Gilbert Palace of Truth i. 13 While publishing the truth He's no idea that he is doing so; And..he let innumerable cats Out of unnumbered bags. 1913 ‘Ian Hay’ Happy-go-lucky i. 4 ‘Your fag, isn't he?’ ‘I gave him the bag two terms ago... Tiny has him now.’ |
20. bag and baggage:
orig. a military phrase denoting all the property of an army collectively, and of the soldiers individually; hence the phrase, originally said to the credit of an army or general,
to march out (with) bag and baggage (
= Fr. vie et bagues sauves),
i.e. with all belongings saved, without surrender of anything; to make an honourable retreat. Now used depreciatively to express the absolute character of any one's departure: to clear out completely, ‘and a good riddance too!’
the bag and baggage policy: see last two
quots.| [1422 Rymer Fœdera X. 206/2 (De salvo conductu) Cum armaturis..bonis..bogeis, baggagiis.] 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. xxiii. 59 We haue with vs all our bagges and baggages..that we haue wonne..by armes. Ibid. I. cccxx. 497 So all the men of warre within departed with bag and baggage. 1544 Chron. Grey Friars (1852) 47 The kynge gave them alle there lyffes and pardynd them to goo with bagge and bagges. 1580 North Plutarch (1676) 922 To go safely with bag and baggage, never to return. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 170 Let vs make an honorable retreit, though not with bagge and baggage, yet with scrip and scrippage. c 1620 Middleton Witch (1778) 35 To kick this fellow..And send him downe stayres with his bag and baggage. 1667 Lond. Gaz. No. 163/2 Upon honorable conditions, marching off with Bag and Baggage, Drums beating, Colors flying. 1741 Richardson Pamela II. 34 Bag and Baggage, said she, I'm glad you're going. 1870 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cxix. 115 The king sent them packing bag and baggage. 1876 Gladstone Bulgarian Horrors 61 The Turks..their Zaptiehs and their Mudirs..their Kaimakams and their Pashas, one and all, bag and baggage, shall, I hope, clear out from the province they have desolated and profaned. 1882 Daily News 28 May 5/6 Cites the famous Bulgarian pamphlet, precognising the bag-and-baggage policy as evidence that Mr. Gladstone will never be a party to restoring Turkish authority. |
V. Comb. and
attrib. 21. General relations:
a. attrib., as
bag-fox;
b. objective, as
bag-bearer,
bag-bearing,
bag-carrier,
bag-maker,
bag-making,
bag-punching (
cf. punch n.2),
bag-snatcher;
c. similative and parasynthetic, as
bag-bedded,
bag-cheeked,
bag-like,
bag-shaped.
| 1598 Rowlands Betray. Christ 24 Apostle once, increasing Christ's eleuen, *Bagbearer, to the charge of purse assign'd. |
| 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxix. (1856) 254 A night upon the ice, tented and *bag-bedded. |
| 1890 J. Watson Conf. Poacher x. 137, I had arranged with a confederate to act as *bag-carrier. 1957 N. Frye Anat. Criticism iii. 197 A dwarf who carries a bag of ‘needments’. He is not a traitor, like the other bag-carrier Judas Iscariot. |
| 1839 Carlyle Chartism viii. 166 A plain, *bag-cheeked..Lancashire Man. |
| 1849 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. IV. 1020/2 That skinny and *bag-like part of its mouth which is under the jaw. |
| 1870 Pall Mall G. 15 Aug. 12 Flat moors..on which *bagmaking becomes sheer business, and you have a tame monotony of sport. |
| 1927 Daily Express 21 Sept. 1/2 Dempsey jogged some miles along the road yesterday, did *bag-punching, etc. 1950 J. Dempsey Championship Fighting xxiv. 180 Bag-punching is another exercise that conditions and sharpens. |
| 1836 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. II. 969/1 A dilated *bag-shaped crop. |
| 1908 Westm. Gaz. 20 Aug. 8/2 Sentencing a *bag-snatcher..to three months with hard labour... Prisoner snatched away the satchel of..a nurse. |
22. Special combinations:
bag-filter, a filter made of a cloth bag;
bag-fox, a fox brought alive in a bag to be turned out before the hounds;
† bag-granado, a grenade enclosed in a bag;
bag job U.S. slang, an illegal search of a suspect's property by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
esp. for the purpose of copying or stealing incriminating documents, etc.;
cf. black bag adj. phr. s.v. black a. 19 a;
bag-muff, a muff containing a pouch which serves as a bag;
bag-net, a bag-shaped net for catching fish, insects, etc.;
bag-rod, a fishing-rod which can be taken to pieces and carried in a case;
bag-sleeve, a sleeve tight at the wrist and baggy above;
bag-wolf (
cf. bag-fox).
| a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 209/2 *Bag-filter, (sugar refining) a device sometimes used in clearing saccharine solutions of feculencies and impurities mechanically suspended therein. 1910 Encycl. Brit. X. 346/2 A crude method [of filtration] consists of straining the liquid through cotton or other cloth..formed into long narrow bags (‘bag-filters’). |
| 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece ii. i. 296 Sometimes he is reserved alive, and hunted another Day, which is called a *Bag-Fox. |
| 1814 C. Mathews Mem. II. 319 They turned out a *bag-fox and we had a good run of three miles. |
| 1638–48 G. Daniel Eclog. v. 238 These *Bag-Granadoes flie Still to Advantage Garrisons' Revolt. |
| 1971 Time 11 Oct. 44/1 *Bag job, in the U.S., an illegal search of a suspected spy's residence to obtain incriminating information. 1971 Time 25 Oct. 15/1 In the past, numerous spies..have been exposed by bag jobs. 1973 [see black bag adj. phr. s.v. black a. 19 a]. 1980 Christian Science Monitor 19 Sept. 2/1 A US attorney told the jury to ‘say no to bag jobs’ during opening statements in the trial of two former FBI officials. |
| 1884 Girl's Own P. 29 Nov. 138/2 The useful *bag muff appears in..great varieties. |
| 1777 Travis in Pennant Zool. IV. 12 Our fishermen use a *bag-net fixed to an iron hoop. |
| 1848 Hardy in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. vi. 321 A *bag-net, which..secured the beetles. |
| 1787 Best Angling 11 These *bag-rods..go up in a small compass. |
| 1844 R. Hart Antiq. Norfolk xxii. 69 A sort of *bag-sleeve, tight at the wrist. |
| 1862 M. Napier Life Ld. Dundee II. 151 No more *bag-wolves to afford such sport. |
23. bag and spoon: used
attrib. to designate a type of dredging apparatus (see
quot. 1940).
| 1840 Civ. Engin. & Archit. Jrnl. III. 30/1 Dredging with the common bag and spoon apparatus. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 70/2 Bag and spoon dredger, an implement consisting of a leather bag laced to a steel hoop;..used to dredge soft material. |
Add:
[V.] [22.] bag lady orig. U.S., a homeless woman, often elderly, who carries her possessions in shopping bags;
= shopping-bag lady s.v. shopping vbl. n. 2.
| 1972 S. R. Curtin Nobody ever died of Old Age vi. 85 Letty the *Bag Lady..would pack all her valuables in two large shopping bags and carry them with her. 1977 New Yorker 17 Oct. 40/2, I did a bag-lady number on one of the platforms here in the bus station last year, and I almost got arrested. 1984 M. Amis Money 105 They even had a couple of black-clad bagladies sitting silently on straight chairs by the door. |
▪ II. bag, v.1 (
bæg)
[f. the n.] 1. intr. a. To swell out as a bag, to bulge;
Naut. to drop away from the direct course, to sag.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 21 Baggyn, or bocyn owte, Tumeo. 1650 Fuller Pisgah ii. x. 211 A corner of Ephraim, which baggeth into the south. 1657 S. Purchas Pol. Flying Ins. 142 Sometimes one side of the ear is good corn, and the other bags..and..will be smutty. 1676 R. Wiseman (J.) The skin..bagged, and had a porringer full of matter in it. a 1848 Marryat R. Reefer xxxvi, He was bagging to leeward, like a..barge laden with a hay-stack. |
b. To hang loosely like clothes that are too big. Said
esp. of trousers which become out of shape at the knees.
| 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 265 Coat, which bagged loosely about him. 1859 I. Taylor Logic in Theol. 205 Dingy embroidered trappings..seen bagging upon the wooden effigies. 1893 Scribner's Mag. Sept. 293/1 A trouser-leg is more obstinate in its ugliness. If tight it bags at the knees. 1913 A. R. Hope Half & Half Tragedy 32 The Captain of the school has a pair of new breeches..; but they bag at the knees. |
† 2. intr. To be pregnant. (Also
to be bagged.)
| a 1400 [see bagged]. 1530 Palsgr. 442/2, I bagge, as a doe dothe that is with faune..Se howe yonder doe is bagged. 1589 Warner Alb. Eng. vi. xxx. (1597) 148 Wel, Venus shortly bagged, and ere long was Cupid bread. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 597 (R.) The females, or does..will conceive and be bagged. 1616 [see bagged]. |
3. trans. To cause to swell or bulge; to cram full.
| 1583 Stanyhurst Aeneis ii. (Arb.) 51 Thee mischeuus engyn, Ful bagd with weapons. 1620 Eccl. Proc. Durh., Newcastle-on-T., The chest..was bagd up with monye. a 1656 Bp. Hall Fall of Pride Wks. II. 408 (T.) How doth an unwelcome dropsie bagge up the eyes. 1757 Smeaton in Phil. Trans. L. 204 Almost all the lights [= windows] in the church, tho' not broke were bagged outward. |
4. trans. To put into a bag or bags.
to bag up: to put up in a bag; to shut or store up generally.
| 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 139 Good husbandrie baggeth vp gold in his chest. 1577 Holinshed England iii. viii. 54 They [saffron chives] are dried and pressed into cakes, and then bagged up. 1711 Act in Lond. Gaz. No. 4874/1 The precise Day..on which..they shall Bag..their Hops. 1798 W. Hutton Autobiog. 12, I undressed, bagged up my things in decent order, and prepared for rest. 1870 Lowell Study Wind. 1 Stopping..to bag a specimen. |
5. To put game killed into a bag;
also, to kill game (without reference to the bag). Also
absol.| 1814 Month. Mag. XXXVII. 238 To allow the royal sportsman to bag more birds than himself. 1844 Hawker Instr. Yng. Sportsmen 148 To bag a dozen head of game without missing. 1859 Jephson Brittany ix. 150 My friend thus bagged two wolves. 1890 Ld. Lugard Diaries (1959) I. 135 In the evening I again hit several animals by the unanimous verdict of my men, but did not bag. |
6. colloq. a. To seize, catch, take possession of, steal. To add to one's ‘bag’ (
bag n. 9).
fig.| 1818 Moore Fudge Fam. Paris vi, Who can help to bag a few, When Sidmouth wants a death or two. 1824 Byron Juan xvi. lxii, The constable..Had bagg'd this poacher upon Nature's manor. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. iii. 268 The idea of being led up to the Doctor..for bagging fowls. 1861 Max Müller Chips (1880) II. xxiv. 243 A stray story may thus be bagged in the West-end of London. 1879 Bell's Life in London 28 June 4/2 Whom Mr. Hornby very smartly ‘bagged’ at mid-on. 1936 J. dos Passos Big Money 72 He was almost bagged by a taxicab crossing the street. 1940 I. Halstead Wings of Victory i. ii. 59 Pilot Officer Elliott..has now bagged two. 1943 Ward-Jackson Piece of Cake 11 To bag, bagged, to hit by aerial gunfire; shot down. 1945 Finito! Po Valley Campaign 17 They bagged 9,000 PWs and a battery of 15-inch guns. |
b. To claim; reserve. Used
esp. by children (see
quot. 1914 and
bags I).
colloq.| 1914 Concise Oxf. Dict. Add. 1045/2 Bag, (also, in school slang) claim on the ground of being the first to claim (I b., but usu. bags I or bags, first innings!). 1923 J. Manchon Le Slang 56, I'm going to bag the best chair. 1948 R. A. Knox Mass in Slow Motion vii. 68 The other girl bagging the hot-water pipes first. 1968 Listener 29 Feb. 269, I bags be Anthony Wedgwood Benn. |
7. To dismiss, discharge (a person).
Cf. sack v.
1 5 a.
Cf. bag n. 19.
| 1848 Chaplain's Rep., Preston House of Correction 61 The master told him if he did not mind his work he would ‘bag’ him. 1895 W. Westall Sons of Belial II. xxii. 83 ‘Not have me at th' shop!..You surely wouldn't bag me?.. Bagged, beggared, and disinherited!’ he moaned. Ibid. 85 I'll work for nowt. Only don't bag me just like a common hand. |
8. to bag school, to play truant. Also
to bag it.
U.S.| 1934 J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra (1935) vii. 203 She did not report him on Sunday afternoons when he ‘bagged it’ to go to a ball game. 1948 Philadelphia Bulletin 15 Jan. 14 Threatening him with castor oil, when he seemed set to bag school, never did any good. |
▸
trans. colloq. (
orig. and chiefly
Austral.). To criticize or disparage.
| 1969 Daily Tel. (Sydney) 20 Mar. 6/6 In the last couple of decades the poor old Poms have taken such a bagging from the rest of the world. 1975 Austral. (Sydney) 11 Nov. 10/2 Sigley is also ‘bagged by the blokes’. He says the world is full of big-noters who reckon if a little fat guy can stand up there and talk for an hour then they can too. 1989 Time Off (Brisbane) 2 Mar. 16/1 The left side of my brain is yelling ‘It's crap, it's crap, bag it!’, which would be easy enough to do if the right side didn't persist in reminding me that at times this damn film had me rolling in my seat with laughter. 1994 RIP June 6/1 The wusses currently bagging Dave Mustaine of Megadeth. 2000 N. Earls Perfect Skin (2000) 38 She bags the shit out of you in emails. |
▪ III. bag, v.2 Also 7
bagge, 9
badge.
[Origin not ascertained: cf. batch.] To cut corn, pease, or beans, with a bagging or badging hook: see
quot. 1865.
| a 1697 Aubrey Wilts, MS. R. Soc. 123 (Halliw.) They cannot mowe it with a scythe, but they cutt it with such a hooke as they doe bagge pease with. 1830 Edin. Encycl. XIV. 234 They [beans] are bagged like wheat. 1865 Gard. & Farmer's Vade M. ii. 123 The corn is either mown, or reaped, or bagged. In ‘bagging,’ as it is called, a heavy hook is used: a wisp of straw is cut first and doubled up, or a stick is used instead, held in the left hand, and with the right the heavy hook is driven against the corn close to the ground, and so, by successive strokes, the corn is cut, perhaps a foot deep, up against the standing crop; the wisp or stick in the left hand serving to guide it to a standing place. 1877 E. Warburton Poems 23 Sweet to see cornfields badged, and wheatsheaf bound. |