[see CABBAGE sb.2] trans. (and absol.) To pilfer, to appropriate surreptitiously: a. orig. said of a tailor appropriating part of the cloth given to him to make up into garments.
1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull (1755), 14. Your taylor, instead of shreads, cabages whole yards of cloath.
1793. W. Roberts, Looker-on (1794), III. 388. Ben Bodkin, who had cabbaged most notoriously in the making of Sam Spruce’s new coat.
1830. Blackw. Mag., XXVII. 117. Our Tailor says, ‘I like not the charge of plagiarism.’ Nevertheless, he cabbages.
1873. H. Spencer, Stud. Sociol., vi. 137. The tailor ‘cabbaged’ the cloth he used.
b. transf. c. In Schoolboy slang = To crib, cab.
1837. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), IV. 234. A speech, which … had been what schoolboys call ‘cabbaged,’ from some of the forms of oration … published by way of caricature.
1862. H. Marryat, Year in Sweden, II. 387. Steelyards … sent by Gustaf Wasa as checks upon country dealers, who cabbaged, giving short weight.
