Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) to shoot (to kill), of animals and humans.

1804		P. Hawker Diary 1 Sept. (1893) I 3: Major Pigot picked out the old hen and I the cock, and bagged them both.
1827		Egan Anecdotes of the Turf, the Chase etc. 47: He [...] had then bagged eighty-eight brace of birds and five pheasants.
1832		Egan Bk of Sports 98: He boasted of being a good shot, and of the armies of birds he had bagged in his time.
1843		Kendal Mercury 16 Dec. 8/3: Small game is not only the most difficult to bring down, but the most useless when one has bagged it.
1843		Bellew Memoirs of a Griffin II 79: I had the supreme felicity of bagging something more respectable than paddy-birds.
1857		Morn. Chron. (London) 30 Jan. 8/4: Considering it fair game, he bagged it.
1861		White Cloud Kansas Chieftain 13 June 1/2: Palmer the Sculptor has offered to make a statue in marble of the member of the Utica corps who will ‘bag’ [...] Jeff Davis.
1865		‘Mistakes of a Day’s Gunning’ in Bob Smith’s Clown Song and Joke Bk 20: Told ’em lots of lies ’bout bagging lots of pheasants.
1873		Morn. Post (London) 18 Aug. 2/6: [They] bagged [several] pair of grouse.
1884		‘Experiences of a Cunt Philosopher’ in Randiana 82: I did a fair share of bagging, though the birds were scarcely wild enough to my taste.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Feb. 18/4: When nobleman-stalking ceased, Messrs. Noakes and Stokes amused themselves potting baronets, no less than 244 being bagged in one day. The game was in splendid buckle, and the crofters amused themselves most consumedly.
1892		J.C. Duval Young Explorers 22: We were going to a settlement on the head of the Lavaca; providing the Indians didn’t ‘bag’ us before we got there.
1895		Coburg Leader (Vic.) 4 May 4/4: Brunswick intend to bag all those young magpies to-day.
1899		‘Pot’ & ‘Swears’ Scarlet City 105: We had succeeded in bagging Mrs Magoy’s favourite tortoiseshell.
1900		Boy’s Own Paper 20 Oct. 34: He frequently succeeded in bagging some game.
1907		Gem 16 Mar. 13: You won’t bag me; you’re too bad a shot.
1910		Sun. Times (Perth) 30 Jan. 2nd sect. 7/1: The party bagging one dingo. 12 brace of ducks, 24 brush kangaroo and one ‘boomer’ .
1916		‘Anzac’ On the Anzac Trail 196: [T]he enemy is pumping shrapnel into the bay [...] in the hope of bagging those engaged in the work of rescue.
1918		R.D. Paine Fighting Fleets 107: He was [...] very keen to put out to sea on his own and try to bag a Hun.
1920		Marvel 15 May 12: I’ll bag a few rabbits for supper.
1932		E.S. Gardner ‘Bird in the Hand’ in Goulart (1967) 287: Bagged him! [...] He was shot half a dozen times.
1944		Observer 11 June 1: A little further on a Sten gunner had bagged two geese.
1951		(con. 1941) E. Lambert Twenty Thousand Thieves 55: How many bleeding Huns have you bagged.
1962		Marshall & Drysdale Journey among Men 164: Young Tim [...] walked down the valley in the hope of bagging a ’roo for meat.
1969		J. Broughton Thud Ridge 65: ‘Dutch got bagged,’ he announced [...] ‘they fired two Sams at him.’.
1970		B. Crump ‘A Good Keen Girl’ in Best of Barry Crump (1974) 234: They bagged one duck.
1994		M. Montague Dread Culture 76: All dem haffi do is mek an example of di cop dat murder di youth and bag him, New York style.
2006		C. Miller Salt and Honey 145: I’ll bag a few guinea fowl for the pot.

(b) (Aus.) to wound, to beat.

1896		Coburg Leader (Vic.) 22 Feb. 4/4: Who is the butcher that is going to bag a poor girl up west for putting him in They Say.
1991		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper From The Inside 85: No crim could survive the baggings I’ve got.

(c) to hit, to knock out.

1915		‘Bartimeus’ ‘Crab-Pots’ in A Tall Ship 11: I think one of their submarines must have bagged us.
1922		Wodehouse Clicking of Cuthbert 41: I thought I had bagged a small boy in a Lord Fauntleroy suit on the sixth, but he ducked.
1934		D.L. Sayers Nine Tailors (1984) 244: He found he’d bagged a Tommy in uniform.
1936		(con. 1920s) Dos Passos Big Money in USA (1966) 790: His head was swimming so he was almost bagged by a taxicab crossing the street.

(d) (US, mainly campus/teen) of a man, to seduce, to have sexual intercourse with.

1929		M. Bodenheim Sixty Seconds 31: Who the heck wanted a girl that didn’t twist around or get a boy out of breath before he bagged her?
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 127: Following each story with one of his own about how he bagged some dame and threw a fuck intoer.
1974		(con. 1960s) R. Price Wanderers 226: How he bagged two girls at his confirmation.
1989		J. Doyle College Sl. Dict. 🌐 bag [Muhlenburg] to sleep with.
1993		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 3: ho bag – look for women of questionable moral values for casual sexual encounters. Also bag some hos.
1999		Guardian G2 30 Sept. 3: Ginger binger bags a minger.
2000		Indep. 9 Mar. 9: Hugh has bagged his friend’s daughter.
2003		Simon & Burns ‘Hot Shots’ Wire ser. 2 ep. 3 [TV script] I don’t bag no bities.

(e) (US gay) to have homosexual anal intercourse.

1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
1977		E. Torres Q&A 183: [T]he foster homes, out for a free dollar. [...] Running away at ten and bagged in the freight yard by them three skells.
1989–2003		R.O. Scott Gay Sl. Dict. 🌐 bag: 1. anal intercourse, the penis or some other object, is inserted into the anus for intercourse.

(f) (UK gang) to stab in the lower body.

2018-20

T. Thorne (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Bagging – stabbing in the lower body.

(a) of an object or animal, to seize.

1801		Sporting Mag. Apr. XVIII 27/2: Reynard was [...] bagged alive.
1818		‘Thomas Brown’ Fudge Family in Paris Letter VI 52: Lucky the dog that first unkennels / Traitors and Luddites now-a-days; / Or who can help to bag a few.
1825		Age (London) 12 June 37/2: And Elgin (‘you’ll nose in the lobby’) / The marbles he managed to bag.
1856		C. Reade It Is Never Too Late to Mend II 284: So now he was down [...] and we bagged him.
1859		G.A. Sala Gaslight and Daylight 46: The ‘Burster’ is very short of hands; but he has bagged very few A.B.’s yet.
1880		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 18 Dec. 16: [pic. caption] How Pretty Emigrants are Decoyed from Respectability to Infamy and a Disgraceful Death — Procurers and Procuresses, and How they Bagged Their Game.
1899		Kipling ‘An Unsavoury Interlude’ in Complete Stalky & Co. (1987) 73: I heard Oke (the Common-room butler) talking to Richards (Prout’s house-servant) about it down in the basement the other day when I went down to bag some bread.
1909		G.R. Bacchus Pleasure Bound ‘Ashore’ 127: ‘If we bag the lot [...] we shall [...] save England’.
1913		H.A. Franck Zone Policeman 88 244: At the town of Sabanas, where those Panamanians who have bagged the most loot since American occupation have their ‘summer’ homes.
1917		Boy’s Own Paper XL:2 98: Nobody about and so they tried to bag a few for nothing.
1927		‘Max Brand’ Pleasant Jim 45: He [...] walked away and thumbed his nose at six of us that tried to bag him down in the valley.

(b) to steal; to rob; to hide away.

1828		‘The Song of the Young Prig’ in C. Hindley James Catnach (1878) 171: Speak to the tattler, bag the swag, / And finely hunt the dummy.
1838		W.N. Glascock Land Sharks and Sea Gulls II 127: While I’m bagging the plate, you, Bill, and Dick, must mount the stairs.
1846		Swell’s Night Guide 110/1: Bag the swag, pocket your portion, hide your whack.
1864		B. Hemyng Eton School Days 49: I did not bag the egg from the garden.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 93/1: He knew a place where there was certain to be a ‘big fresh’ and we could not fail in ‘bagging’ a few ‘skins’ there.
1873		‘Cuthbert Bede’ Little Mr. Bouncer 67: The baker’s boy had [...] bagged some wine from a bottle.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Sept. 9/2: One says she goes round after dark, steals clothes from clothes-lines and carries them to the barracks. Another tells how she bags people’s ducks and carries them to the barracks.
1890		‘Morris the Mohel’ ‘Houndsditch Day By Day’ Sporting Times 11 Jan. 3: Morry a baggin’ three towels and a frilled piller-case, marked vith the name o’ the ’Otel, towards his ’ousekeepin’.
1900		Boy’s Own Paper 24 Nov. 117: It was more probable that the chap who bagged Higginston’s New South Wales knew they were worth a lot.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 4 Sept. 1/1: Flower-filching from the city parks and gardens is a popular pastimne in Perth [...] the petticoated peculators put in their weekly half-holiday in bagging the beauteous blooms.
1909		Wodehouse Mike & Psmith [ebook] ‘It's beastly cheek [...] You can’t go about the place bagging studies’.
1913		A. Lunn Harrovians 31: Hope you’ve brought back some jam this time . . . you bagged all mine at the beginning of last term.
1917		Punch 14 Feb. 116: Why, you’re the chap who bagged my mess-tin before the last kit-inspection.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1965		(con. 1940s) B. Behan Confessions 44: We held up a number of pawn shops and [...] bagged for the cause some £2000.
1966		B. Reckord Skyvers I ii: It’s nerve and brain. Thinkin’ it up, plannin’ it, then doin’ it there in broad daylight in the open street and not leavin’ off till you’ve bagged every tanner.

(c) to gain, to secure possession of, to win for oneself (esp. after repeated efforts).

1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 4: Bag the swag – pocket your portion, hide your whack.
1840		‘The Hare with Many Friends’ in New Monthly Mag. Jan./Mar. 272: For rhyme, I bagg’d that O.
1846		Swell’s Night Guide 113/2: Bag, to take away, see pinch and swag.
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 263: There’s more glory in killing a peacock than bagging a sparrow.
1867		J. Greenwood Unsentimental Journeys 232: By half-past eight he had sold his twenty-five ‘dailys,’ and had bagged ninepence clear.
1879		New Ulm Rev. (MN) 19 Nov. 1/5: The game was to be bagged without delay, or the game would bag me.
1890		‘The Welsher’s Confession’ in Seal (1999) 143: I said to my mate, ‘We ought to bag £40 a-piece.’.
1900		Boy’s Own Paper 15 Dec. 165: I can easily bag his book on it.
1910		H.G. Wells Hist. of Mr Polly (1946) 25: Right O! Don’t bag all the crust, O’ Man.
1914		C. Holme Lonely Plough (1931) 165: It would be a fine old crow over the Creeping Jesus, if she bagged his post.
1927		(con. 1835–40) P. Herring Bold Bendigo 109: You can please yourself about bagging his flimsy.
1938		F. Anthony ‘Rivals’ in Me And Gus (1977) 65: She ate cake for cake with me, and then bagged the last.
1945		D. Bolster Roll On My Twelve 59: You’ve bagged the only decent bit of holding ground.
1963		B. Hecht Gaily, Gaily 175: [He] had bagged many a scoop by this strategy.
1972		T. Stoppard Jumpers Act I: The last decent title left after Ryle bagged ‘The Concept of Mind’ and Archie bagged ‘The Problem of Mind’.
1981		A.K. Shulman On the Stroll 127: Between two and three the team had bagged three hundred plus from the paycheck-happy crowd emerging with stuffed pockets from the bank.
1999		Guardian Rev. 1 Oct. 10: Ritchie bagged an award.
2000		Indep. on Sun. Real Life 23 Jan. 3: He then enjoyed a brief stint as a recording artiste [...] bagging three Number One hits.
2009		Eve. Standard 18 May 17/2: Blondie bags a Lennon.
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] Malone scans for [...] some cops cooping in a radio car, bagging a litle sleep.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 35: Jimmy bagged back issues of Peep, Lowdown, Whisper, Tattle, and Confidential.

(d) of a human, to catch, to arrest.

1851		Bell’s Life in Sydney 4 Oct. 3/4: [deadline] The Bag-man Bagged.
1867		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 12 Oct. n.p.: [A] row ensued, and the trio were ‘bagged’. Jake and his friends ‘got ten days’.
1872		G.P. Burnham Memoirs of the US Secret Service 129: Chief Whitley [...] followed out a little plan he laid to bag this tough old boy.
1875		‘Aliph Cheem’ Lays of Ind (1905) 213: [T]hey bagged their prize, / What a son-in-law he would be!
1881		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 19 Nov. 10/2: ‘Of great value, cribbed it [i.e. a watch] you know, ’fraid I’ll be bagged if I hock it’.
1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 313: He always said he’d die happy if he could only bag you and the Marstons.
1893		Dly Commercial Herald (Vicksburg, MS) 1 Mar. 2/4: Two very ‘slick ducks’ were bagged here by the chief of police.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 24 Mar. 5/1: Two [criminals] did the disappearing trick but the ‘’tec’ managed to bag one bird.
1907		Sun. Times (Perth) 24 Mar. 1/1: [of an arsonist] The initial flames have been traced to an old hand at the game [and] as many successes have made him reckless, he will be eventually bagged.
1907		W.M. Raine Bucky O’Connor (1910) 115: He doesn’t want to bag half of us and throw the rest of us into immediate rebellion.
1929		‘Ellery Queen’ Roman Hat Mystery 117: Ritter’s bagged someone, eh?
1934		D.L. Sayers Nine Tailors (1984) 244: He found he’d bagged a Tommy in uniform with all his kit.
1949		‘Hal Ellson’ Duke 124: I’m really being tailed now and they’re after something or they’d have bagged me already.
1957		‘Ed Lacy’ Lead With Your Left (1958) 53: I bagged a miserable jerk on his first two-bit job.
1965		C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 17: They were both bagged a week later for smoking pot.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 58: First time they bagged me was their fault.
1986		C. Stroud Close Pursuit (1988) 135: Soon as we wrap here, me and Frank’ll bop over and bag ’em.
1999		M. Disend ‘Afterword’ in Black You Can’t Win (2000) 323: Detective Burke, the San Francisco cop who bagged him in 1912.
2001		C. Stella Eddie’s World 233: That Russian kid [...] The one the feds bagged outside the house on Long Island.
2012		‘Dutch’ ? (Pronounced Que) [ebook] Kid got bagged up in Richmond [...] Six kilos.
2018		G. Gilmore Class Act [ebook] Her husband [...] Total dish and a real gentleman, I can’t think how Emma bagged him.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 16: Purse-lipped puritans out to bag bent cops.
2022		Central Cee ‘LA Leakers Freestyle’ 🎵 Free all the members that got bagged.

(e) to claim.

1862		F.W. Farrar St Winifred’s (1863) 213: Kenrick supposed that it was lost, or that some one had ‘bagged’ it.
1911		Gem 23 Sept. iv: I’ve bagged number five octagon study for us this term.
1914		‘Ian Hay’ Lighter Side of School Life 65: I asked for one [i.e. a squash court booking] after breakfast, and Etherington said they were all bagged.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 68: Daresay Corny Kelleher bagged that job for O’Neill’s.
1929		K.S. Prichard Coonardoo 233: I’ve bagged one of your hats, Dad.
1950		A. Buckeridge Jennings Goes To School 34: It’s Bod’s. He bagged it last term.
1960		F. Keinzly Tangahano 190: Don’t forget Committee bags first ride!
1968		A. Buckeridge Jennings in Particular (1988) 7: He bagged first over when I won the toss.
1978		L. Kramer Faggots 99: Randy had bagged his first virgin.
1995		D. Lodge Therapy (1996) 155: She’d already bagged the master bedrooom.
1999		Indep. on Sun. Culture 26 Sept. 3: Sorry, but I’ve already bagged it.

(f) to charge money.

1961

T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 94: ‘I bag the straight punters for a caser, and the mugs I gazump for what I can get’.

(g) to steal from, to burglarize.

1980		G. Liddy Will (con. 1973) 319: My next move was obvious: get hold of the official report. I'd have to bag the records office.
2000		C. Cook Robbers (2001) 206: Idea was to bag a joint in Beaumont, boogie due west to Houston.

(h) to get something non-material.

1999		Guardian Weekend 25 Sept. 69: Whereas Mel gets her full forty winks [...] I can’t bag zeds.
2000		Guardian G2 10 May 16: I’d just bagged six straight passes.

(a) to dismiss [dial. bag, to dismiss, to jilt].

1846		Swell’s Night Guide 113/2: Bag, to give the sack, to discharge a person from employment.
1848		Chaplain’s 25th Report of the Preston House of Correction 61: The master told him if he did not mind his work he would ‘bag’ him [OED].
1871–82		B.M. Carew Life and Adventures n.p.: Sack (to get the) to get dismissed by an employer; bagged also means dismissed.
1895		W. Westall Sons of Belial II 83: ‘Not have me at th’ shop! [...] You surely wouldn’t bag me? [...] Bagged, beggared, and disinherited!’ he moaned .
1958		E. Gilbert Vice Trap 36: He had heard Carroll say he was going to bag me.

(b) (Aus./US) to denigrate, to criticize.

1972		J. McNeill Old Familiar Juice (1973) 82: bulla: [Y]er start criticizin’ about hard it is to live with us. Bagging blokes who’ve done the right thing by you.
1985		T.R. Houser Central Sl. 9: bag [...] ‘I ain’t sayin’ nothin’ to you man, you bag pretty good.’.
1989		R.G. Barrett Boys from Binjiwunyawunya 226: You’ve been bagging Balmain all year.
1991		L. Bing Do or Die (1992) 57: I get hyper, and I start baggin’ — talkin’ about somebody, everybody.
1993		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read How to Shoot Friends 196: We ended up losing the appeal, but I won’t bag the poor bugger. [...] Only mugs and poor sports blame their bloody lawyers.
2000		S. Maloney Big Ask 246: Bag Agnelli. Attack his competence as transport minister [...] say he isn’t up to the job.
2005		P. Temple Broken Shore (2007) [ebook] It’s [i.e. a newspaper mission in life is to get the Libs back [...] And that means bagging blacks every chance they get.
2006		P. Shannon Davey Darling 224: We’d do anything for you, your mother and me, so I don’t see why you should start bagging me in front of the court.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] ‘I can’t see him bluing. You aren’t bagging the jails’.
2018		Twitter 16 Apr. 🌐 I’m embarrassed to say that for a long time I had nothing but respect and admiration for Peta Credlin. I defended her when colleagues used to bag her.

(c) (US) to make a mess of, to fail at, to botch.

1967–8

Baker et al. CUSS 75: Bag...To do poorly on something, to fail, as ‘bag an exam’ .

(d) (US campus) to miss a class or examination; to give up a course of study; often as bag school v.; bag it

1949		H. Kurath Word Geography 35: Bag school [...] is common in Philadelphia and in Chester [DARE].
1950		New Yorker 11 Nov. 60/2: [After my mother’s death] I took to baggin’ school [DARE].
1965–70		in DARE.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 75: Bag (verb) To miss intentionally or break a commitment, as ‘bag class’ [...] ‘bag an exam’, ‘bag studying’.
1971		G.R. Wood Vocab. Change.
1977		Eble Campus Sl. Fall 1: bag a class – to cut a class.
1986		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 1: bag – forget [...] ‘I’m going to bag my psych class today.’.
1998		‘Don’t talk like a frosh: a guide to Yalespeak’ in Yale Herald 🌐 Bagging: You’re in bed. It’s 9:45 a.m. You had a class at 9:30. Maybe you’ll make it next week.
2000		Amer. Lang. Rev. 4:5 🌐 Local words characteristic of Philadelphia include baby coach (baby carriage), bag school (skip school), pavement (sidewalk), and square (city block). A few words with Philadelphia origins have since gone on to more widespread usage: hoagie (submarine sandwich), yo (hey, hello), and hot cakes (pancakes).

(e) (US campus) to neglect, to stop doing something, to dismiss or disregard an idea or plan.

1978		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 1: bag it – to stop doing something, to put something away or to forget something: [...] You can bag that idea right now.
1987		(con. 1980) G.W. Clemente Cops are Robbers 48: ‘If a half-stick [of dynamite] doesn’t do it [...] then we’ll bag the whole thing’.
1994		M. McAlary Good Cop Bad Cop 20: Dowd’s girlfriend had problems from the start. [...] She too was interested in working as a cop, but bagged the idea.
1997		G.V. Higgins Change of Gravity [ebook] ‘I got a Dacey [speeding] ticket, and you bagged it for me,’ I said.

(f) to break a date, to ‘stand someone up’.

1989

J. Doyle College Sl. Dict. 🌐 bag [Princeton] to cut, to blow off.

(g) (US campus) to throw away; to give up.

1986		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 1: bag – forget, get rid of [...] ‘Those posters are too old to use, so we might as well bag them.’.
1999		W. Gibson All Tomorrow’s Parties 117: Rydell sat there [...] thoroughly pissed off at Laney. Felt like bagging the whole deal.
2001		D. Jenkins Money-Whipped Steer-Job 91: [We] bagged the Tuesday night bridge game and hired a limo [. . .] and went off fondle Miami’s delights.

(h) (US) to hide something unpleasant from the speaker’s sight.

1982

Frank Zappa ‘Valley Girl’ 🎵 And the lady like goes, oh my God, your toenails / Are like so GRODY / It was like really embarrassing / She’s like OH MY GOD, like BAG THOSE TOENAILS.