swag, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

swag v.

1. (also swagg) to place, to put, to carry; thus swagging n.

1668		J. Wilson (trans.) Erasmus Moriae Encomium (1509) 121: [E]very one of 'em, pleases himself the more, by how massier is the Chain, he swaggs on his shoulders, as if he meant to shew his strength, as well as his wealth.
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 363: There is one who swags — that is, carries the coin; there is another who pitches or passes it.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 10/1: Joe Kay [...] thought [...] that it would be no more than right that some one else should ‘swag’ the ‘tools’.
1893		N.Z. Graphic Dec. n.p.: Not having the means to employ a man to carry my traps or wheel them after me in a barrow, I have to swagg them myself.
1895		Age (Melbourne) 22 July 6/1: I now plod along [...] moralising on the gentle art of swagging and thinking what a fool a man is to turn himself [...] into a beast of burden.
1937		‘Red Collar Man’ ‘Chokey’ 164: Swagging and planting was another racket. [...] To swag in jail is to carry and to plant is to hide or keep.
1956		‘Charles Raven’ Und. Nights 22: It would have been too dodgy swagging gear into Bella’s drum at 3 a.m.
1969		F. Norman Norman’s London 23: The ambulance showed and two geezers in blue unforms pick up me little nipper and swag her in the back.

2. to steal, to take forcibly.

1846		Swell’s Night Guide 113/2: Bag, to take away, see pinch and swag.
1857		‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue.
1881		Exeter Flying Post 20 Apr. 6/6: Stook-Buzzing or ‘Fogle-hunting’ [...] is followed onl by boys who band together, one being the bagman, the sxecond the stall, while the third [...] keeps a look out [...] is called the swagsman, it being the chief part of his business to carry or ‘swag’ the ‘stooks’ or [...] ‘fogles’.
1887		‘’Arry on Law and Order’ in Punch 26 Nov. 249/2: Perhaps there is grabbers as wants to swag more than their shares.
1895		‘G.G.’ Sporting Sketches in Sportsman (Melbourne) (18/10/1898) 5/8: ‘’Ow much do yer think ’e’d swagged?’.
1903		H. Hapgood Autobiog. of a Thief 92: An occupation he found far more lucrative than ‘swagging’ copper from the docks.

3. (Aus.) to carry a pack, i.e. a swag n.¹ (7)

1904		‘Dryblower’ ‘His Quest’ in Sun. Times (Perth) 3 Apr. 4/7: It was on the old Kalgoorlie track we met him swagging in.
1908		Sun. Times (Perth) 20 Dec. 4/8: So Mulga Mick put bluey up and swagged from Blowfly Flat.

4. to hustle along, to hurry.

1958

F. Norman Bang To Rights 10: When we got swaged into the meatwagon I asked another geezer the strength of him.

5. to grab up (but not in criminal sense).

2011

J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 13: Swagging barracuda a few clicks off the cape.

6. to smuggle.

1954		J. Phelan Tramp at Anchor 208: It fell to me lot to pick up the parcel, ‘swag’ it into the jail, and distribute it.
1970		T. Parker Frying-Pan 62: He’ll tell you the bloke in the cell next to him was swagged off the night before.

7. (UK Und.) to sell stolen property.

1981

(con. c.1920) A. Harding in Samuel East End Und. 222: He used to swag a lot of crooked stuff and crockery.

8. (UK/US black) to look good.

2016

Guardian G2 8 Aug. 🌐 All modern slang was banned: Like saying: ‘Oh, that’s lit,’ or: ‘Oh, you swagging’.

swag away (v.)

to abduct, to kidnap; thus in fig. use.

1959		F. Norman Stand on Me 30: I grabbed hold of her and swagged her away into a corner.
1978		J. Barnett Head of the Force in DSUE (1984).
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 1180/2: [...] since (?) ca. 1955.

swag it (v.)

1. (Aus.) to live as a tramp, or itinerant worker.

1861		T. McCombie Aus. Sketches 5: There was the solitary pedestrian, with the whole of his supplies, consisting of a blanket and other necessary articles, strapped across his shoulders: this load is called the ‘swag’ and the mode of travelling ‘swagging it.’.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Jan. 22/1: An old man and his little boy were driving an ass to the market to sell. ‘What a fool is this fellow,’ said a man upon the road, ‘to be swagging it on foot with his son, that the moke may go light!’.
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 53: These people [...] confuse the man who ‘swags it’ from necessity with the ‘sundowners’ and ‘whalers’ who eke out a living tramping from one place to another begging and stealing.
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 21 July 13/1: During my 10 or 11 years on the rivers I swagged it up and down the ’Bidgee from Gundagai to Hay. [...] And out of the depths of my experience I say, that, to give a normal stomach even half-time at work, one needs to be a confidence man with something new.
1915		Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Dec. 17/1: We swagged it together, an’ bullocked together, off an’ on, for years. Rippin’ good mate.
1936		A. Russell Gone Nomad 58: ‘Swagging it’ to a sheep station on the Queensland border, he secured a job.

2. in weak use of sense 1, to travel.

1856		Age (Melbourne) 11 Nov. 7/1: Mount Moliagul [...] does not contain a large population at present, but from the number of persons to be seen ‘swagging’ it in that direction, it is probable that there is some point of attraction somewhere there abouts.
1906		Sun. Times (Perth) 18 Aug. 4/8: He swagged it down to lugbite Jimmy Nicholas once again.