Also 4, 6 swagge, 7–9 swagg. [In senses 1 and 2 perh. of Scandinavian origin; cf. with sense 2 Norw. dial. svagg big strong well-grown person. The other senses are mainly direct from SWAG v.]
† 1. A bulgy bag. Obs.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 502. Þere was a wycche, and made a bagge, A bely of leþyr, a grete swagge.
† 2. A big blustering fellow. Obs.
1588. Marprel. Epist. (Arb.), 5. Will you not sweare as commonly you do, like a lewd swag?
1589. Nashe, Martins Months Minde, 42. Kaitiues, lewd swagges, ambicious wretches.
1589. Cooper, Admon., 62. Hee termeth him a Swag. What hee meaneth by that, I will not diuine: but as all the rest is lewde, so surely herein hee hath a lewde meaning.
1764. Low Life (ed. 3), 44. Munster-Cracks, Connaught-Peers, Ulster-Swags, Leinster-Fortune-Hunters, Welch-Gentle Men.
3. A swaying or lurching movement; for spec. dial. uses see quots. 1825–80, 1876.
1660. Ingelo, Bentiv. & Ur., I. (1682), 10. In goes he to the Boat … and the suddenness of the swag, overturn’d the vessel upon the passengers.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 44. Couplings should be placed near the bearings, as there is there the least swag.
1825. Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1830), 75. ‘Oh, yes, Sir,’ said he, and with an emphasis and a swag of the head.
1825–80. Jamieson, Swag,… 2. Inclination from the perpendicular.
1863. Cowden Clarke, Shaks. Char., x. 251. One would think a ‘strong-minded’ woman must necessarily have the figure of a horse-guard, the swag of a drayman, and the sensibility of a carcase-butcher.
1876. Whitby Gloss., Side-swag or Side-sway, a declivity close to the road side, threatening a carriage with an overbalance.
1894. Blackmore, Perlycross, 270. The canvas curtain had failed to resist the swag and the bellying of the blast.
1903. Kipling, 5 Nations, 46. I looked at the swaying shoulders, at the paunch’s swag and swing.
† 4. A pendulum. Obs.
So dial. swagment (Whitby Gloss., 1876).
1686. Molyneux, Sciothericum Telescop., x. 45. The Pendulum or swagg is to be lengthned or shortned as is requisite.
5. A heavy fall or drop. local.
c. 1700. Kennett, MS. Lansd. 1033, s.v., One that falls down wh some violence and noise is said to come down wh a swag.
1887. S. Chesh. Gloss., s.v., One comes down with a swag upon the spring of a bicycle, or upon a hay-stack, or boggy ground, &c.
1912. Blackw. Mag., Dec., 805/2. They heard the sound they most desired, the heavy swag as, reassured, he dropped himself down again.
6. A wreath or festoon of flowers, foliage or fruit fastened up at both ends and hanging down in the middle, used as an ornament; also of a natural festoon.
1794. W. Felton, Carriages (1801), II. 48. A pair of handsome swags of flowers, painted on the pannels.
1813. Gentl. Mag., March, 228/2. Swaggs of fruit and flowers.
1846. Art Union Jrnl., Jan., 36. A … scroll of foliage … flanked by living birds of a peculiar character (often used by Gibbons in his swags and trophies).
1886. Law Times, LXXX. 310/1. A deep frieze and cornice, from which depend a series of festoons and swags.
1906. Quiller-Couch, Sir J. Constantine, xiv. The creepers which festooned the rock here and there in swags as thick as the Gauntlet’s hawser.
7. A sinking, subsidence; concr. a depression in the ground that collects water, esp. one caused by mining excavations. local.
1856. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XVII. II. 518. The wet ‘swag’ must be relieved by an additional … channel into the exit-drain.
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, Swag, subsidence or weighting of the roof.
1887. Pall Mall G., 12 July, 8/2. Two brothers … were drowned while bathing in an old colliery swag at Bradley, near Wolverhampton.
1891. B’ham Weekly Post, 28 July, 8/3. The evidence showed that the deceased was bathing in a swag on Saturday.
8. Cant. A shop. Cf. swag-shop (in 12 b).
1676. Coles, Dict., Swag, a shop.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulgar T.
b. One who keeps a ‘swag-shop.’ slang.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 349. One in Holborn, and the other at Black Tom’s (himself formerly a street-seller, now ‘a small swag’).
9. A thief’s plunder or booty; gen. a quantity of money or goods unlawfully acquired, gains dishonestly made. slang.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v., The Swag is a term used in speaking of any booty you have lately obtained … except money.
1827. Scott, Lett. to Croker, in Lockhart. I have been stealing from you, and … I send you a sample of the swag.
1838. Dickens, O. Twist, xix. ‘It’s all arranged about bringing off the swag, is it?’ asked the Jew.
1862. Calverley, Charades, VI. v. in Verses & Transl. (ed. 2), 95. While one hope lingers, the cracksman’s fingers Drop not his hard-earned ‘swag.’
1891. Newcastle Daily Jrnl., 18 March, 5/3. This genial gentleman went off to America with the swag.
10. Austral. The bundle of personal belongings carried by a traveller in the bush, a tramp or a miner.
1864. J. Rogers, New Rush, I. 1. Their ample swags upon a cart are tied.
1881. A. C. Grant, Bush Life Queensl., I. v. 43. The quart-pots were now put on to boil, swags were opened and food produced.
1889. H. H. Romilly, Verandah N. Guinea, 5. Every digger in former days carried in imagination a gigantic nugget in his swag.
11. A great quantity; a large draught (of liquor). dial. (Cf. Sc. swack.)
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v., A swag of any thing signifies emphatically a great deal.
1825–80. Jamieson, Swag, a large draught of any liquid.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 373/1. The term Swag, or Swack, or Sweg, is,… a Scotch word, meaning a large collection, a ‘lot.’
1863. Tyneside Songs, 93. An’ wishin’ … For a swag o’ good Newcassel yell.
12. attrib. and Comb.: swag-like adv., after the fashion of a bushman’s ‘swag’; swagman, (a) a man engaged in the ‘swag-trade’ or who keeps a ‘swag-shop’ (see b); (b) Austral. a man who travels with a ‘swag’; also swagsman (see also quot. 1890).
1890. Melbourne Argus, 2 Aug., 4/2. He strapped the whole lot together *swag-like.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 447/2. The *‘swag-men’ are often confounded with the ‘lot-sellers.’
1883. Keighley, Who are you? 36 (Morris). Then took a drink of tea…. Such as the swagmen in our goodly land Have with some humour named the post-and-rail.
1890. Melbourne Argus, 7 June, 4/2. The regular swagman, carrying his ration bags, which will sometimes contain nearly 20 days’ provender in flour and sugar and tea.
1879. J. B. Stephens, Drought & Doctrine, Wks. 309 (Farmer). A *swagsman … with our bottle at his lips.
1880. G. Sutherland, Tales of Goldfields, 89. One of these prospecting swagsmen was journeying towards Maryborough.
1890. Barrère & Leland, Slang Dict., Swagsman,… an accomplice who takes charge of the plunder.
b. slang. Denoting the trade in certain classes of small, trifling or trashy articles, those engaged in such trade, etc.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 333/2. The slaughterer sells by retail; the swag-shop keeper only by wholesale. Ibid., 355/1. Of these swag-barrowmen, there are not less than 150. Ibid. The tinwares of the swag-barrows are nutmeg-graters, bread-graters, beer-warmers, fish-slices, goblets, mugs, save-alls, extinguishers, candle-shades, money-boxes, children’s plates, and rattles. Ibid., 373/1. The Haberdashery Swag-Shops. By this name the street-sellers have long distinguished the warehouses, or rather shops, where they purchase their goods. Ibid., 447/2. The ‘penny apiece’ or ‘swag’ trade.
1904. Daily Chron., 25 July, 6/5. Another showman described himself as ‘the cheapest man for all kinds of swag watches, all goers.’
