fag n.3
1. a cheap cigarette, usu. as issued to troops in WWI .
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Sat. Rev. (London) 30 June 786/2: They...burn their throats with the abominable ‘fag’, with its acrid paper and vile tobacco [EDD]. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Coburg Leader (Vic.) 24 Aug. 1/4: How did Paddy battle for Pluto to win those ‘faggs’. | |
| Slum Silhouettes 145: Me an’ Mick wos smokin’ our fags agin the door. | |
| cited in EDD II 377/1: Here [i.e. at Redruth] we are often asked by youngsters to ‘chuck’ them ‘a fag’ and whole cheap cigarettes are also often called fags. | |
| Off the Track in London 211: Most of them are smoking ‘fags’. | |
| Over the Top 42: Fags are issued every Sunday morning, and you generally get between twenty and forty. The brand generally issued is the ‘Woodbine.’ Sometimes we are lucky, and get ‘Goldflakes,’ ‘Players,’ or ‘Red Hussars.’ Occasionally an issue of ‘Life Rays’ comes along. | |
| Kia Ora Coo-ee 15 May. 5/2: I […] offered the fair charmer a cigarette. She took it, with the remark, that issue fags were up to putty. | |
 | Lingo of No Man’s Land 34: FAG Tommy asks for a fag, meaning a cigarette. | |
| (con. WWI) Somme Mud 106: The corporal [...] hands over three packets of fags. | |
| (con. WWI) Soldier and Sailor Words 91: Fag Issue: The official ration of cigarettes (fags) allowed to troops serving overseas. | |
| (con. 1914–18) Songs and Sl. of the British Soldier 23: Fag.—Cigarette. Certain brands of cigarettes, of inferior quality, were issued to the troops. | |
| (con. WWI) Flesh in Armour 71: Skinny [...] deciphered himself by a demand for a fag. |
2. any cigarette; thus fag-card n., a cigarette card.
| Marvel 21 Dec. 15: Ide ad sum luck wid the boss bein out, and leving is fags at mi merci; so, wiv a smoak on [...] i trotted that trotter-storl gel to the Mo. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 11 Dec. 1/1: The fag-smoking kinchin openly indulges in his vice. | |
| City Of The World 154: They will have money in their pockets [...] and ‘fags’ between their lips, and maybe a Cockney blowen on their arm. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | ‘Lord Ballyrot in Slangland’ in Tacoma Times (WA) 14 Jan. 4/4: Any time you see me puffing a fag just mark me down as getting woozy. | |
| ‘Hitched’ in Songs of a Sentimental Bloke 78: I saw ’im feelin’ for a light / To start a fag. | |
| London Street Games 123: Fag-cards are cheap, and no mistake. | |
| Wash. Times (DC) 25 June 8/1: [advt] Windsor Catle Fags [...] The Military Smoke. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Ulysses 480: Who has a fag as I’m here? | |
| Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 11 Aug. 15/2: Bung him a cheery greeting and a fag, and you’re setski. | |
| (con. 1916) Her Privates We (1986) 30: The first thing I noticed was Bourne [...] quietly smoking a fag. | |
| ‘The Whirling Hub’ in Afro-American (Baltimore, MD) 13 Apr. 15/3: The gendarmes are making a ruthless attack against the users and sellers of those Mexican narcotic fags, called love weeds. | |
| Night and the City 74: Can you roll yourself a fag? | |
| ‘Observation Post’ in N.Y. Age 26 Apr. 9/7: [of marijuana] I takes one drag on that reefer ‘fag’ and jack, I’m high just like that sky. | |
| Bluey & Curley 5 Apr. [synd. cartoon strip] I ain’t got a fag on me!! | |
| Otterbury Incident 154: What, no fags? | |
| ‘The Election Candidate’ Hancock’s Half-Hour [radio script] I didn’t have this trouble with me fag cards. Complete set of footballers within the fortnight. | |
| Real Cool Killers (1969) 63: His eyes lit on Choo-Choo’s half-smoked package of Camels [...] ‘Dump out those fags.’. | |
| Crust on its Uppers 48: I’m going to give our Brian a fag. | |
| Enderby Outside in Complete Enderby (2002) 315: There to smoke a soothing marijuana fag or two. | |
| Start in Life (1979) 16: I struck a match and lit her fag. | |
| West in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 101: I went down the road to get the Sunday Mirror and some fags. | |
| One Hot Summer in St Petersburg 64: She petulantly stubs out her fag. | |
| Urban Grimshaw 137: Coughing up blood [...] with a fag in her hand. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Artefacts of the Dead [ebook] You hold onto that fag, doll [...] I’ll fire up a new one for myself . | |
| Glorious Heresies 13: He’d sold fags and dope and cans of lager. | |
| Young Team 44: The school bus driver is smokin his customary bribe fag. |
In compounds
cigarette ash.
| New Directions in Prose and Poetry 92: Is it the smell of fag-ash in my hair / next day? | |
| Smack 34: My old dad’s eighty-two, he smokes like a chimney and he’s the colour of fag ash. | |
| Professional Misconduct 178: [...] the girl [...] letting her fag ash drop onto Melissa’s lap. ‘Oh sorry, love,’ she said. |
a nickname for a woman who smokes heavily.
| Poetry Wales IX 77: You are famous in the Rhydfelen pubs as Fag-Ash Lil, painted bag whose charms were blown. | |
| Short Summer in South America 116: You know, fag ash Lil doing a rasher of bacon and a very dead egg and you asked for a breakfast. | |
| Alan Rickman 147: Rima owes her deep, rather thrilling voice to her smoking habit: she can be a bit of a Fag-Ash Lil and has been known to puff away during speeches. | |
| Monaco’s Wild Child 230: The paparazzi started referring to her as ‘Fag-Ash Lil’ because she was often seen hanging around the caravan with a cigarette in her mouth. |
a cigarette end.
| Tramping with Tramps 67: The tramp [...] has an eye for a rabbit and a chicken, as well as a fag-butt. | |
| Layer Cake 80: He flicks his fag-butt with his finger and thumb away into the roses. |
see separate entry.
the mouth.
![[SA]](/static/img/flags/sa.png "South Africa") | Crime in S. Afr. 75: They employed an argot which was peculiarly their own [...] a ‘fag-hole’ signified the mouth. | |
| 1985 (1980) 213: ‘Shut your fag-hole,’ said the conducting officer. | |
| ‘Bryan the Gardener’ on Nifty Erotic Stories Archive 🌐 Well, I ain’t had fag hole for a while. Get over here, man. I’ll give ya what you want. [...] “Suck my dick,” he commanded. |
a cigarette paper.
| City Of The World 235: His brand of fag-papers was the ‘A.G.’ and he would have none other. | |
| More Laughs 63: Besides, ’ow do I know ’ow long this war’s goin’ to last, or when I’ll see a fag or a fagpaper again? | |
| Tramp-Royal on the Toby 239: I’ve got some hard-up and fag papers. | |
| Letters from the Big House 57: Anyway ’e’s on the hook [...] Makes engravin’-plates, for Dicker. Turnin’ orf tenners and fifties like fag-papers. | |
| (con. 1940s) Borstal Boy 320: Got a fag-paper, Paddy? | |
| BBC News 6 Mar. 🌐 You couldn’t put a fag paper between Jack McConnell and David McLetchie. |
a cigarette end.
| Marvel 21 Dec. 15: I would ave guv er the last puff ov mi fag-topper, I lurved er so. |