schwag, n. and a. N. Amer. (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
Brit. /ʃwag/, U.S. /ʃwæg/
Forms: 19– schwag, 19– shwag
[Alteration of swag n., perhaps after words of Yiddish origin such as schmuck n., schlub n., etc. (compare schm-).]
A. n. 1. slang. Marijuana, esp. of low quality; = swag n. Additions b.
| 1993Undiscovered Country, Issue 2 in alt.zines (Usenet newsgroup) 24 Jan. ‘Check out this schwag,’ he said... I took the first bong hit, sucking down an insane amount of smoke. 1997 Phoenix (Arizona) New Times (Nexis) 18 Sept. Friends don't let friends smoke schwag. 2004 Playboy (Nexis) Jan. 220 Instead of brown Mexican schwag, you had brain-scrambling hothouse flowers growing in your hometown, worth more by the ounce than gold. |
2. colloq. Items given away free, typically for promotional purposes, to people attending an event, using a service, etc.; = swag n. Additions a.
| 1995Re: Product Reviewers in rec.bicycles.misc (Usenet newsgroup) 15 May P'raps we can sell all this schwag we've collected. 1996 Plow Snowboarding Mag. Dec. 22/1 Basically, you want shwag, ie. t-shirts, stickers and our Visa bills. 2002 Wired Nov. 28/2 In Vegas, the more you lose, the more you get. High rollers are feted with a blizzard of perks and schwag—penthouse suites, plane rides, limo service, meals, drinks, shows. |
B. adj. Bad; low quality; dreadful.
| 1993 Washingtonian (Nexis) Feb. This party's schwag. Let's bail. 1996 San Francisco Chron. (Nexis) 22 Aug. a13 Being in jail, ‘it's schwag, man,’ said Manny. 2000 Genre Aug. 12/1, I don't know what Michael was thinking about when he hung all those schwag Nagel posters on the wall. |