Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also peg it) to die.

c.1850		(ref. to 1820s) Peeping Tom (London) 33 130/2: It became quite a passionate desire of mine to see that detestable fellow ‘peg out’.
1855		Herald of Freedom (Lawrence, KS) 29 Sept. 2/5: Both parties are badly cut, and we are happy to state that the free-soiler is in a fair way to ‘peg out’, while the pro-slavery man is out and ready for another ‘tilt’ .
1862		‘Artemus Ward’ Artemus Ward, His Book 81: I shall peg out 1 of these dase.
1870		Echo 10 Mar. n.p.: Then [...] the heart-broken man exclaimed, Oh, George, George, why did you peg out? [F&H].
1879		Morristown Gaz. (TN) 30 Apr. 1/2: When a bedbug ‘pegs out’ you had better make an assignment.
1884		Leicester Chron. 14 June 12/2: Jerry had the parson and the governor in the farm (infirmary) the day before he pegged out.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Aug. 13/4: In the meantime, a man named Hugge was admitted to the hospital, and, after a short struggle, ‘pegged out.’.
1892		H. Lawson ‘The Bush Undertaker’ in Roderick (1972) 54: It must ’a’ been just about the middle of shearin’ when yer pegged out.
1898		J.D. Brayshaw Slum Silhouettes 55: She got a trifle from Scotland Yard when he pegged it.
1899		C. Rook Hooligan Nights 35: Billy has pegged out, a victim to sundry disorders.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 23 Aug. 32/4: Look ’ere, Andy, I ain’t ’ad no easy life. The old woman pegged when I was 12. [...] When the old woman went they kicked me out – sold the few sticks an’ cleared.
1902		‘Dads Wayback’ in Sun. Times (Sydney) 13 July 1/5: ‘Our kids ain’t waitin’ fer us ter peg out’.
1905		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘When Duty Calls’ Sporting Times 13 May 1/3: She’d many husbands, and had married all / Without waiting for the previous selection to peg out.
1908		J. Gunn We of the Never-Never (1962) 146: He’ll stick to me till I peg out.
1910		Sun. Times (Perth) 17 July 2nd sect. 12/5: A ‘leader’ writer on a goldfields daily declares if he were to ‘peg out’ right here and now, the posthumous publication of his articles might be continued [...] till the crack of doom.
1912		P.C. Wren Dew & Mildew 391: Old, stingy, wealthy Uncle Jimmy pegged out, and [...] the best and most reliable solicitors in the Midlands, wiring that he was ‘sole heir’.
1913		‘J.W.L.’ Slave Stories 57: I guess you’ve got a bite from a tstse, and that your complaint is the one in which cent. per cent. peg out.
1928		D.L. Sayers Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1977) 64: She knew perfectly well he was liable to peg out at any moment.
1928		V. Palmer Passage 103: But he’s getting old. [...] Wonder what’d happen if he pegged?
1939		K. Tennant Foveaux 203: You ain’t laid and felt your hair turnin’ grey wonderin’ what ’ud happen to your wife and kids if you pegged out.
1941		A. Gurney Bluey & Curley 15 May [synd. cartoon strip] I served it up at the sergeants’ mess — and none of the cows have pegged out yet.
1946		A. Christie Hollow (1950) 238: I don’t want to peg out.
1959		K. Waterhouse Billy Liar (1962) 179: Be funny if one of ’em pegged out on the job.
1961		‘Frank Richards’ Billy Bunter at Butlins 157: I – I think I’m going to peg out. Oh, crikey!
1975		D. Nobbs Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976) 262: Chap pegs out, everybody comes round.
1980		Barltrop & Wolveridge Muvver Tongue 87: ‘He rolled up’ or ‘he pegged out’ mean a person has died.
1992		D. Jarman letter 9 May Smiling in Slow Motion (2000) 125: He said it had a brand-new orthopaedic mattress – that her dad had pegged out on, ugh!
1997		M. Walters Echo 236: None of us’d seen him for about three, four weeks before he pegged it.
2000		M. Amis Experience 343: But now, with my old man pegging out at St Pancras’s?
2002		J. Cameron Hell on Hoe Street 153: He looked ripe for pegging.
2015		I. Welsh Decent Ride 72: It’s nae good fir ye tae snort that much coke: ye kin peg right oot.

2. to lose one’s energy, esp. during a strenuous exercise or sport.

1869		Sporting Gaz. 18 Dec. 913/1: 100 to 8 looks a very tempting price indeed [...] particularly as one or two of the favourites may ‘peg out’ before the day.
1906		E. Dyson Fact’ry ’Ands 243: Fuzzy pegged out after ther first hour.
1914		G.A. England ‘Rural Locutions of Maine and Northern New Hampshire’ in DN IV:ii 77: peg out, v. [...] very tired.
1927		‘Max Brand’ Pleasant Jim 147: Here’s Sally pegging out.
1966		B. Reckord Skyvers III iii: You either knuckle under or peg out or spend your life defendin’ yourself.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 77: ‘A coupla dozen Resch’s Pilseners [...] We’re peggin’ out’.

3. to be financially ruined.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 866/1: ca. 1880–1910.

4. see peg (someone) out under peg v.¹