subs. (old).—1. The womb. Hence as verb (or to BE BAGGED) = to become pregnant, to get big with child; BAGGED = LUMPY (q.v.): properly of animals; BAG-PUDDING = pregnancy: cf. ‘Sweet-heart and BAG-PUDDING’ (RAY).
1598. FLORIO, A Worlde of Wordes, s.v.
1606. WARNER, Albion’s England, vi. 148. Well, Venus shortly BAGGED, and ere long was Cupid bred.
1608. JOHN DAY, Humour out of Breath, ii. 1. 25. Pa. Farewell, sweet heart. [Exit.] Boy. God a mercy, BAGPUDDING.
1611. COTGRAVE, Dictionarie, s.v. Bagage.
1676. ROCHESTER, The History of Insipids, 14.
| Had haughty Holms but call’d in Spragg, | |
| Hans had been PUT INTO A BAG. |
2. (common).—The stomach: hence as verb = to feed, to fill the stomach; BAGGING = food: spec. (North) food eaten between meals, or (Lanc.) a substantial afternoon repast, ‘high tea’; hence BAGGING-TIME.
1750. COLLIER [Lancashire Glossary (E.D.S.)]. Hoo’l naw cum agen till BAGGIN’ TIME.
1787. BURNS, Auld Mare Maggie.
| A guid New-year I wish thee, Maggie! | |
| Hae, there’s a ripp to thy auld BAGGIE. |
1835. A. URE, The Philosophy of Manufactures, 387. Thirst, which must be quenched with tea at BAGGING-TIME.
1863. E. WAUGH, Lancashire Songs, 29, ‘Jamie’s Frolic.’ Th’ BAGGIN’ were ready, an’ o’ lookin’ sweet.
1870. Chambers’s Journal, Oct., p. 661. There are all the varieties of board and lodging, dinner of potatoes and bacon with buttermilk, BAGGING in the forenoon and afternoon, dinner and lunch, and rations allowed for women.
1879. Temple Bar, 4 Jan. BAGGIN’ is not only lunch, but any accidental meal coming between two regular ones.
1899. H. WYNDHAM, The Queen’s Service, 14. Now, you youngsters, don’t sit there blowing your BAGS out any longer, like a couple of blooming young pigs.
3. (common).—In pl. = the paps; DUGS (q.v.): properly of animals.
1642. H. MORE, The Præexistency of the Soul, xlvii.
| Those wicked Hags … whose writhled BAGS | |
| Foul fiends oft suck. |
4. (stock exchange).—Buenos Ayres Great Southern Railway Bonds.
1903. Westminster Gazette, 28 March, 9, 3. BAGS Dividend [Title].
5. (common).—In pl.—loosely-fitting clothes: spec. trousers: also BUMBAGS: whence HOWLING BAGS = breeches of ‘loud’ pattern or cut, and GO-TO-MEETING BAGS = ‘Sunday clothes,’ one’s best wear: see KICKS. Hence BAGGY = stretched by wear; BAGGILY = loosely; TO BAG = to sag; BAG-SLEEVE = a sleeve BAGGY above, and tight at, the wrist.
c. 1350. William of Palerne [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, i. 44. The curious word BAKKES (vestes) appears in p. 72; it seems to be Salopian … we still have the slang term BAGS for an important part of our raiment; Lord Eldon was called [1801–27] ‘OLD BAGS’].
1598. FLORIO, A Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Socchi, a kind of socke … or BAGGING shooe vsed in old time.
1824. IRVING, Tales of a Traveller, I. 265. A coat which BAGGED loosely about him.
1853. REV. E. BRADLEY (‘Cuthbert Bede’), The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, an Oxford Freshman, 51. Just jump into a pair of BAGS and Wellingtons. Ibid., 5. His black GO-TO-MEETING BAGS.
1858. HAWTHORNE, French and Italian Journals (1872), I. 22. Red, BAGGY trousers.
1859. I. TAYLOR, Logic in Theology, 205. Dingy embroidered trappings … seen BAGGING upon the wooden effigies.
1860. SMILES, Self-Help, vii. He … only appears stout because he puts himself into those BAGS.
1862. GRONOW, Reminiscences, I. 113. Black coats … BAGGILY made.
1868. A. K. H. BOYD, Lessons of Middle Age, 123. A BAGGY cotton umbrella.
1870. Chambers’s Journal (Christmas Number). Holloa! Parsons don’t wear light tweed BAGS!… Jack had to unpack his portmanteau and get out his evening inexpressibles.
1874. M. and F. COLLINS, Frances, xv. His well-shapen hip and calf were hidden in loose-fitting BAGS of corduroy.
1878. BOSWORTH SMITH, Carthage, 434. Jews with their BAGGING pantaloons.
1880. Punch, 10 Jan., 6. Just look at these BAGS you last built me, Snippe! J’ever see such beastly BAGS in your life?
1882. National Baptist, XVIII. 6. A BAGGINESS about the trousers.
1897. MARSHALL, Pomes, 40. For he noticed that his BAGS had developed into rags. Ibid., 109. His BAGS have faded at the knees.
1899. R. WHITEING, No. 5 John Street, xxi. Chinymen…. They ’re fly, and no mistike. Pretends to wear petticoats: got BAGS on underneath.
1900. KIPLING, Stalky & Co., 44. ‘Confound you! You haven’t been popping my Sunday BAGS?’
6. (Westminister School).—In sing. = milk.
7. (sporting).—The contents of a game bag; the result of sport: said of racing as of fishing, shooting, etc., and alike of a big game expedition as of a day in the stubble. As verb (or TO BRING TO BAG) = to shoot, to kill, to catch.
1814. The Monthly Magazine, XXXVII. 238. To allow the royal sportsman TO BAG more birds than himself.
1844. P. HAWKER, Instructions to Young Sportsmen, 148. TO BAG a dozen head of game without missing.
1859. J. M. JEPHSON, Narrative of a Walking Tour in Brittany, ix. 150. My friend, thus BAGGED two wolves.
1863. J. H. SPEKE, Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile, 36. ‘The BAGS’ we made counted two brindled gnŭ, four water-boc, one pallah-boc, and one pig.
1864. J. R. LOWELL, Fireside Travels, 245. The disputes of Italians are very droll things, and I will accordingly BAG the one which is now imminent as a specimen. Ibid. (1870), My Study Windows, i. Stopping … to BAG a specimen.
1867. FRANCIS, A Book on Angling, i. (1880), 29. The artist in roach-fishing alone will make a fair BAG on an indifferent day.
1881. SIR W. HARCOURT, Speech at Glasgow, 26 Oct. Lord Salisbury and Sir S. Northcote … had a rattling day at Newcastle and Beverly—but I ask myself what is their BAG.
1880. Forest and Stream, xxi. 2. The BAG is not the sole aim of a day afield.
1885. HAWLEY SMART, Tie and Trick, ii. A Markee … whose BAG consisted of a fox, a boy, half a pheasant, and the fragments of a rabbit.
Verb. (1). See subs. senses.
2. (common).—To acquire; to secure: i.e., to seize, catch, or steal: cf. NAB, COP, BONE, etc. Whence (old) BAGGER = a miser; BAGGED = (1) got, and (2) QUODDED (q.v.).
1740. Collect. Sir Thomas Scot [F. PECK, Cromwell].
| He spent, and lookt for no reward, | |
| He could not play the BAGGER. |
1818. T. MOORE, The Fudge Family in Paris, vi.
| Who can help to BAG a few, | |
| When Sidmouth wants a death or two? |
1824. BYRON, Don Juan, XVI. lxii.
| The constable, beneath a warrant’s banner, | |
| Had BAGG’D this poacher upon Nature’s manor. |
1857. T. HUGHES, Tom Brown’s School-days, II. iii. 268. The idea of being led up to the Doctor … for BAGGING fowls.
1861. MAX MÜLLER, Chips from a German Workshop (1880), II. xxiv. 243. A stray story may thus be BAGGED in the West-End of London.
1862. F. W. FARRAR, St. Winifred’s, XXXV. They would not call it stealing but BAGGING a thing, or, at the worst, ‘cribbing it’—concealing the villainy under a new name.
1878. CHARLES HINDLEY, The Life and Times of James Catnach. ‘The Song of The Young Prig.’
| Speak to the tattler, BAG the swag, | |
| And finely hunt the dummy. |
1880. M. COLLINS, Thoughts in My Garden, I. 163. The word beggar itself is from BAG—meaning a man who carries a bag; and the modern commercial slang reproduces the phrase, saying of a clever man of business that he has BAGGED a good thing.
1887. W. E. HENLEY, Villon’s Straight Tip to all Cross Coves. The merry little dibbs you’ll BAG.
1888. BOLDREWOOD, Robbery under Arms, xlv. I’ve BAGGED one of your lot, and you’ve done your best to pot me.
Intj. (schoolboys’).—BAGS! or BAGS I! to assert a claim to some article or privilege. Cf. FAINS or FAIN IT (q.v.) = a demand for a truce during a game, which is always granted: PIKE I or PRIOR PIKE likewise serves to lay claim to anything, or to assert priority. Also BAR! e.g., ‘He wanted me to do so and so, but I barred not.’
PHRASES. TO TURN TO BAG AND WALLET = to turn beggar; TO GIVE ONE THE BAG TO HOLD (RAY)—to slip off: also to leave in the lurch; TO GIVE THE BAG = (1) to leave without warning (GROSE), also (2) to dismiss, and (3) to cheat (WEBSTER): see CANVAS, SACK, and WALLET; TO LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG = to disclose a trick or secret (see CAT); TO EMPTY THE BAG = to tell all: also to close an argument (Fr. vider le sac); TO PUT ONE IN A BAG (see quot. 1662); TO PUT (or GET) ONE’S HEAD IN A BAG (printers’) = to drink: BAG = pot of beer; TO TAKE THE BAG = to play the hare in ‘Hare and Hounds’; TO HAVE THE BAGS = (1) to come of age, and (2) = to be flush of money; TO BAG THE OVER (see JOCKEY).
1592. GREENE, A Quip for an Upstart Courtier [Works, IX. 263]. You shall be … lighte witted upon every small occasion TO GEUE your maister THE BAGGE. Ibid. (1592), The Defence of Conny-Catching, XI. 86. If he meane to GIUE HER THE BAGGE, he selleth whatsoever he can, and so leaues hir spoild both of hir wealth and honestie.
1599. HAKLUYT, Voyages, II. i. 161. The TURNING TO BAG AND WALLET of the infinite number of the poore people imploied in clothing.
1607. DEKKER, Westward Ho! iv. 2 [Works (1873), II. 340]. I fear our oares haue GIUEN US THE BAG.
1647. Speedy Hue and Crie, i. … He being sometime an Apprentice on London Bridge … GAVE his master THE BAG.
1662. FULLER, Worthies, Cardigan (ii. 579). They (the Welsh) had a kind of play wherein the stronger who prevailed put the weaker into a sack; and hence we have borrowed 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.’
1793. JEFFERSON, Writings (1859), iv. 7. She will LEAVE Spain THE BAG TO HOLD.
1823. SCOTT, Peveril of the Peak, vii. She GAVE ME THE BAG to hold, and was smuggling in a corner with a rich old Puritan!
1887. The Saturday Review, 14 May, p. 700. It is slang, and yet purely trade slang, when one printer says of another that he has GOT HIS HEAD IN THE BAG.
See BLUE-BAG; CARPET-BAGGER; CAT; GREEN-BAG; NOSE-BAG; WIND-BAG.
