Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK Und., also bong) a purse.

c.1566		Harman Caveat for Common Cursetours in Viles & Furnivall (1907) 83: bunge, a pursse.
1592		Greene Blacke Bookes Messenger 2: When he had nipt a Bung or cut a good purse, he would steale ouer in to the Low Countrie.
1597		E.S. Discovery of Knights of Poste D: The brinext bung the Cutpurse nyppes, shall serue for his recompence.
1608		Dekker Belman of London H1: The purse is the Bung. The money the Shelles.
1610		Rowlands Martin Mark-all 42: My bong, my lowre, & fambling cheates / Shall be at thy command.
1613		Beaumont & Fletcher Coxcomb II ii: Sheathe your bung, whore!
1620		‘Song of the Beggar’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 14: Ten miles vnto a Market. / I runne to meet a Miser, / Then in a throng, I nip his Bung, / And the partie ne’er the wiser.
1630		Tinker of Turvey Epistle 1: Arm’d with his budget, Bung-Dagger, New-panne and hammer.
1639		J. Taylor Crabtree Lectures 189: Cove. Mort, what lower hast thou in thy Bung?
c.1658		J. Cleveland Cleivelandi Vindiciae (1677) 99: He is in the Inquisition of the Purse an Aunthentick Gypsie, that nips your bung with a canting Ordinance [F&H].
1665		Head Eng. Rogue 40: One of our diving Comrades pickt their pockets, or with a short sharp knife, and a horn on the thumb nipt their bungs.
1671		‘L.B.’ New Academy of Complements 213: Then in the throng, / I nip his Bung.
1674		Head Canting Academy (2nd edn).
1688		R. Holme Academy of Armory Ch. iii item 68c: Canting Terms used by Beggars, Vagabonds, Cheaters, Cripples and Bedlams. [...] Boung, a Purse.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Claying the Bung, Cutting the Purse, or Picking the Pocket.
1707		J. Shirley Triumph of Wit 194: Fib the Covet quarrons in the Rum pad, for the Lour in his Bung. [Beat the Man on the High-way, for the Money in his Purse].
1719		A. Smith Lives of Most Notorious Highway-men, etc. (1926) 205: Fib, to beat. Fib the cove’s quarrons in the rum-pad, for the lowr in his bung. Beat the man in the highway lustily, for the money in his purse.
1725		New Canting Dict.
1734		C. Johnson Hist. of Highwaymen &c. 105: The first Question they asked him was, If he had any Loure in his Bung.
1740		Poor Robin n.p.: Meanwhile the cut-purse in the throng, / Hath a fair means to nyp a bung [F&H].
1741		Ordinary of Newgate Account 18 Mar. 🌐 They examined the Contents of their Booties, which was three Bungs, with Lowers (Purses) .
1754		Scoundrel’s Dict. 18: A Purse – Bung.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Boung, (cant) a purse.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1833		‘The Slap-Up Cracksman’ in Swell!!! or, Slap-Up Chaunter 43: So flick the suck — or draw the clicks, / The lil, the jam, or bung from kicks.
1859		‘Hundred Stretches Hence’ in Matsell Vocabulum 124: The chips, the fawneys, chatty-feeders, / The bugs, the boungs, and well-filled readers.

2. a pocket.

1592		Greene Quip for an Upstart Courtier B2: By his side, a skein [dagger] like a brewer’s boung-knife.
1610		Rowlands Martin Mark-all 37: Bung is now vsed for a pocket, heretofore for a purse.
1741		Ordinary of Newgate Account of the Malefactors executed at Tyburn 18th March 1740 part II 7: They took Opportunity to [...] Chive the Froes of their Bungs, (or cut off the Women’s Pockets).
1764		Bloody Register III 171: [as cit. 1741].
1830		B.M. Carew Gypsey of the Glen I iii: Be charitable, and put your fangs into your bungs, and throw us a croaker – All of us poor cripples.

3. a cut-purse.

c.1597		Shakespeare Henry IV Pt 2 II iv: Away, you cut-purse rascal! you filthy bung, away!
1658		R. Brathwait Age for Apes 259: I [...] in acquaintance with some Gipsies fell; Whose chiefest Bung and Captain now I am.
1822		R. Nares Gloss. (1888) I 120: bung. A low-lived term of reproach for a sharper or pickpocket.

4. a bribe.

1958		F. Norman Bang To Rights 149: ‘Alright so how much is the bung?’ asked Solie.
1970		G.F. Newman Sir, You Bastard 192: His proposed bung had no bearing on Sneed seeing them [i.e. rules] enforced.
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 176: Bung, a A gratuity of an almost legitimate nature, not quite a bribe.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.
1999		Observer 12 Dec. 15: The jury had already heard Fayed’s allegations of bungs in brown envelopes.
2001		Indep. 14 Aug. 5: Railtrack manager took ‘bungs’ to fix lucrative deals for his friends, court told.
2006		Sun (London) 26 July [headline] Laurence Cop ‘Took Bung’.
2012		Independent 24 Jan. 5/5: These payments were a bung or offshore bonus that the parties had absolutely no intention of paying taxes for.
2022		A. Parks May God Forgive 66: ‘Things people will do for a cash bung’.

5. a loan.

1993

I. Welsh Trainspotting 99: Ye’ll need tae gie us a bung though, Gav. Ah’m fuckin brassic.