Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also cabbidge) to steal, to pilfer, orig. used of tailors stealing offcuts.

1712		J. Arbuthnot Hist. of John Bull 27: Your tailor, instead of shreds, cabbages whole yards of cloth.
1740		Garrick Lethe Act I: This sneaking gentleman is my tailor [...] he has cabbaged one yard in six from his customers.
1750		Hist. of Jack Horner 4: Jack frights a Taylor for cabbaging Cloth out of his Coat.
1767		‘Andrew Barton’ Disappointment I v: Nae mare me hoose sal be a resaptacle for thieves, ye preckloose cabbaging sins o’ hoors.
1771		Foote Maid of Bath Married I iv: One may cut and cabbage, and cut again, without pinching our customers, or clipping them into short coats.
1789		‘A Parody’ Parsley’s Lyric Repository 20: ’T shall go hard, If out of your suit I don’t cabbage a yard.
1798		‘Medley’ in Hilaria 39: Snip seiz’d an artless lass, sir, / And cabbag’d her virginity, the best piece of her a— , sir.
1801		C. Dibdin Yngr Song Smith 61: A Taylor who cabbag’d, as taylors will do, / Not an inch from an ell, but a yard out of two.
1815		‘A Tailor’s Goose Can Never Fly’ Sailor’s Vocal Repository 30: Tailors cabbage all your cloth.
1822		C. Dibdin Yngr Larks of Logic, Tom and Jerry I i: Yes, lawyers cabbage as well as tailors.
1830		Owl (NY) 25 Sept. n.p.: [H]e has cabbaged enough from his master to buy a pair of boots.
1831		Satirist (London) 20 Nov. 261/2: So these were made state snips for life, By Royal will and pleasure / [...] / To cabbage they were never known, Which most of all surprises.
1837		G.T. Strong Diary in Nevins & Thomas (1952) I 57: The students were all glorious and more than one potato and apple were cabbaged from the barrels in front of the groceries.
1840		Sunbury American (Northumberland Co., PA) 19 Dec. 1/1: During the past year there have been cabbaged by the tailors of this metropolis nine thousand four hundred and seven yards of cloth, eighteen pecks of buttons [etc.].
1843		Satirist & Sporting Chron. (Sydney) 18 Feb. 3/2: Although certain parties hint, that I am only the ninth part of a man, in this Chamber I have cabbaged a whole vote.
1846		Thackeray Diary of C. Jeames de la Pluche in Works III (1898) 413: It’s not my fault if that old screw Lady Bareacres cabbidged three hundred yards of lace.
1846		Bell’s Life in Sydney 20 June 3/2: [She] was charged by a butcher of Pitt-street [...] with having invaded his pickle-tub and cabbaged a quantity of beef.
1850		Man of Pleasure’s Illus. Pocket-book n.p.: [T]he effect of such incessant practice is an unquestionable proficiency in the art of measuring and cabbaging.
1855		T. Haliburton Nature and Human Nature I 245: Dick, cabbage a bit of cloth.
c.1864		‘Timothy Brown the Tailor’ Rakish Rhymer (1917) 39: Oh, you’ve cabbaged my heart, and sewed me up !
1867		S. London Press 14 Dec. 15/5: The remnant, as were just over five yards [...] didn’t leave not ’ardly a bit over, though [...] I always suspects Mrs Pollin of ’avin’ cabbaged [...] bein’ a tailor’s daughter.
1872		‘Useless S. Grant’ in Farmer of Chappaqua Songster 64: None of them of late / Can equal what you’ve ‘cabbaged’ from us freely.
1880		Columbus Jrnl (NE) 1 Dec. 1/8: Thee may cut it, but as the tailors sometimes cabbage cloth [...] I shall stay and watch.
1882		N&Q Ser. 6 VI 210: But he said, If I cabbage that ring tonight, I shall be all the richer tomorrow.
1885		R. Burton Arabian Nights 321: [note] The tailor in the East [...] is made to cut out the cloth in presence of its owner, to prevent ‘cabbaging’.
1888		St Paul Dly Globe 28 July 10/6: The above-mentioned comrades [...] did on or about July 19 [...] eneter the chicken coop of a comrade and did [...] steal, purloin, rob, crib, cabbage, abstract, or otherwise carry away, eleven chickens.
1892		Meridional (Abbeveille, LA) 16 July 2/5: Heiner is evidently a scurby fellow, he [...] cabbaged about $100 entrusted to him by subscribers.
1899		Dly Press (Richmond, VA) 21 Nov. 4/2: he elaned over the counter and adroitly cabbaged a cigar.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 29 Sept. 25/3: The scoop on this occasion was engineered by two men, one of whom worked at the Blue Moon and cabbaged a shirtful of specimens each shift, which were carefully smuggled below by his brother.
1908		L.W. Payne Jr ‘Word-List From East Alabama’ in DN III:iv 295: cabbage, v. To take, steal.
1917		Mt Vernon Signal (KY) 2 Nov. 4/3: It shall be unlawful to pick up [...] steal, seize, [...] pilfer, purloin [...] crib, cabbage [...] another man’s umbrella.
1935		E.W. Calder ‘Black 13’ in Spicy Adventure Stories Aug. 🌐 It was the red-haired wren who’d cabbaged my thirty-five blue chips.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

2. to destroy, to defeat.

1808		G. Colman Yngr ‘Heigho! says Thimble’ in Randolph & Legman Ozark Folksongs and Folklore (1992) II 621: My dearest duck’s defunct in bed; / Death has cabbag’d her.
1831		‘Gallery of 140 Comicalities’ Bell’s Life in London 24 June 3/5: Flinty monster! thou hast cabbaged my very existence!

3. to grab; to arrest.

1754		Derby Mercury 6 Sept. 3: Tho’ small was his Wit, he so acted his Part / That (I know not how ’twas) he cabbag’d her Heart.
1809		A.B. Lindsley Yankee Notions 37: Tarnation seize me, but I’ll cabbage his bottle.
1833		M. Scott Tom Cringle’s Log (1862) 193: Was it an honest trick of you to cabbage my young friend [...] as if you had been slavers kidnapping the Bungoes.
1851		R. Hicks Lady Killer 37: Just send a dray around for all the good things I shall cabbage.
1867		Cambria Freeman (Edensburg, PA) 17 Oct. 3/3: Another individual who was ‘on the wing,’ induced by over indulgence [...] was cabbaged and cribbed for getting obstreperous.
1906		E. Dyson In Roaring Fifties 188: She got a quart and I cabbaged half for my tea-party.
1934		R.L. Bellem ‘Sleeping Dogs’ in Spicy Detective Sept. 🌐 Under ordinary circumstances I’d have cabbaged onto that three grand.
1943		Burnley Exp. 5 May 2/2: Americanisms [...] ‘cabbaged on to her’ (got hold of her arm).

4. to plagiarize.

1815		Morn. Post (London) 11 Aug. 3/4: Whatever may be found in the above beautiful quotation, [...] there is not more than half of it cabbaged.
1870		Derbys. Times 25 June 4/6: It will be found that the entire article has been ‘cabbaged’ from an essay [...] by Mr Alfred Smith [...] Such an impudent piece of literary piracy [etc.].
1874		Edinburgh Eve. News 16 Jan. 2/6: The boy had some arithmetic to do, and on showing his ‘sum’ to the master, the latter accused him of having ‘cabbaged’ from a book.
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Feb. 2/1: It may also be mentioned that the Illustrated London News’ people are not above what is known in artistic and literary circles as ‘cabbaging’.
1882		Manchester Courier 28 Jan. 10/6: Martin’s address was in his own language, and not ‘cabbaged’ from books .