ˈnose-bag
[f. nose n.]
1. a. A bag, usually made of strong canvas and leather, which is suspended from a horse's head (the open end covering his nose) so that he may eat the provender contained in it.
| 1796 Grose's Dict. Vulgar Tongue (ed. 3), Nose Bag, a bag fastened to the horse's head, in which the soldiers of the cavalry put the oats given to their horses: whence the saying, I see the nose bag in his face; i.e. he has been a private man, or rode private. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 178 Every man takes his pair of nose-bags, and supplies his own horses. 1873 Tristram Moab vi. 112 The muleteers are not scrupulous about stealing from each other's nosebags. |
| transf. 1889 Pall Mall G. 22 Jan. 6/2 It is often said that these public institutions are largely used as ‘nose-bags’—that they afford a comfortable corner for persons to lunch in or otherwise shelter themselves. |
b. slang. (See
quot. 1860.) Also, the practice among holiday-makers of taking their own food or refreshments with them;
attrib., as
nose-bag crowd.
| 1860 Slang Dict., Nose-Bags, visitors at watering places, and houses of refreshment, who carry their own victuals. 1908 Daily Chron. 4 Aug. 3/4 Neither was it, as one of Messrs. Lyons's managers observed with appreciation, a ‘nose-bag’ crowd. 1909 Ibid. 7 June 5/2 The ‘nose-bag’ grows and flourishes. |
2. A net placed over a horse's nose to protect it from flies.
| 1839 Holloway Prov. Dict. s.v. Nose-fly, Nose-bags or nets are used to protect the horses' noses. |
3. Food, a meal. Also allusively. Phr.
to put (occas. get) on the nose-bag, to eat.
slang.
| 1874 Hotten Slang Dict. 239 To ‘put on the nose-bag’ is to eat hurriedly, or to eat while continuing at work. 1886 F. T. Elworthy West Somerset Word-Bk. 521 Well! hon I zeed zo many o' they there whit-neckangkecher fullers comin', I thinks to mysul, there's a bit of a nose⁓bag a-gwain on in there. 1898 J. D. Brayshaw Slum Silhouettes 155 Come in, we'll jist 'ave five minutes wiv the nose-bag. 1921 R. Lardner Big Town v. 201 We couldn't stop to put on the nose bag at the Graham. 1925 Wodehouse Carry On, Jeeves! vi. 145 Biffy's man came in with the nose-bags and we sat down to lunch. 1926 Amer. Speech I. 652/1 Nose-bag, lunch handed out in paper bag. 1930 D. L. Sayers Strong Poison xi. 137 Thanks awfully, I've had my morning nosebag. 1962 New Statesman 21 Dec. 897/3 The precise time the family get the nose-bag on. 1973 Wodehouse Bachelors Anonymous xiv. 185, I must rush. I'm putting on the nosebag with a popsy. |
4. A gas-mask.
colloq.| 1915 D. O. Barnett Let. 11 May 135 Every one was ready and had their nose-bags on, and the gas had no effect whatever. 1940 Everybody's Weekly 2 Mar. 4/1 Londoners call their masks ‘Dicky-birds’, ‘Canaries’ and ‘Nose-bags’. |