blag, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

blag v.

1. (orig. UK Und., also blague) to steal.

1930		(con. 1910–20s) D. Mackenzie Hell’s Kitchen 118: Blag ... to snatch.
1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 2: Blagg (or blaggers): Snatch or steal.
1938		F.D. Sharpe Sharpe of the Flying Squad 240: Bob, if I push this window in will you blague that wireless set?
1956		‘Charles Raven’ Und. Nights 97: They wouldn’t tell him the actual date or the place they’d blag the pay-roll in case they gave him away.
1961		(con. 1920s) J. Sparks Burglar to the Nobility 34: They were screaming the loss of £25,000 of trinkets I’d just blagged.
1970		‘Metropolitan Police Sl.’ in P. Laurie Scotland Yard (1972) 321: blag, to: to rob.
1981		(con. c.1910) A. Harding in Samuel East End Und. 119: Cocky Flatnose [...] said to me ‘blag the box’, i.e. the banker’s bank or owner’s kitty.
1999		Guardian Weekend 12 June 23: In the basement of Eastern Bloc Records [...] they blagged whatever new music caught their fancy.
2000		Guardian G2 27 Apr. 9: The ‘stickers’ [...] have been along to blag car stereos and CDs.
2018-20		T. Thorne (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Blag – rob, steal.

2. to persuade, esp. as in blag in/into, to talk one’s way in to a party, concert etc.

1926		Portsmouth Eve. News 23 Nov. 4/4: Mingling with the guileless folks [...] are two or three auxiliaries known as ‘ricks’ or ‘gees’. They stimulate bidding for the ‘swag’ [...] The process is known as ‘blagging’.
1939		Yorks. Post 23 May 6/5: The Pitcher’s Jargon [...] The modern ‘pitcher’ must have a good apperance, a clear and resonant voice, and a considerable knowledge of crowd psychology. [...] The tale he tells is his ‘fanny’ [...] and the telling of it [...] ‘blagging’.
1956		J. Curtis Look Long Upon a Monkey 188: So you ain’t blagged the full issue off of Ray, that it?
1962		F. Norman in Police and the Public in Norman’s London (1969) 137: An ex-copper I knew came up to me and [...] in the death blagged a couple of theatre tickets off of me for this play I had written.
1984		A. Sayle Train to Hell 59: They’re blagging on about how they’re writing the Indian version of The World According to Garp.
1999		Guardian Editor 28 May 22: As with any form of blagging, looking the part is the key.
2001		K. Waterhouse Soho 82: He wouldn’t mind gatecrashing one. Blag his way in.
2016		V. McDermid Out of Bounds (2017) 300: So I blagged my way past the Macaroon by telling him this must be how it happened.

3. to deceive, to hoax.

1958		F. Norman Bang To Rights 137: This time I went the guntz and blagged her for a grand.
1962		R. Cook Crust on its Uppers 37: His temper [...] is murderous if he thinks we’re trying to blag him.
1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 78: They ain’t got the brains to blag their way into proper con tricks.
1983		J. Sullivan ‘Homesick’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] I’m going out with that little waitress that I blagged.
1999		N. Cohn Yes We Have No 50: Blagging [...] everyone knows what it means: hustling for people too lazy to really hustle.
2002		D. Flusfeder Gift 305: I blagged this off a parkie. Told him I was on work experience.
2014		S.A. Cosby ‘Grandpa’s Place’ in ThugLit Sept. [ebook] ‘So they got the best blagging man in the business—that would be me—to make that money go bye-bye’.
2018-20		T. Thorne (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Blag – trick, bluff, cajole.

4. to be rude or cheeky.

1956

‘Charles Raven’ Und. Nights 125: Johnnie [...] got his back scratched for blagging a screw.

5. to obtain for free.

1974		G.F. Newman You Flash Bastard 42: The situation was as Sneed had sussed: the DC blagging his drinks and the poof who fancied himself, getting the needle when he started including old toms in the free rounds.
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 47: I’m going to need to blag a ride to school or I’ll be late.
2003		N. Griffiths Stump 64: Itchin to get ar hands on temazzy scripts or other stuff we could blag that we’d sell on.

6. (W.I.) to chat with friends.

1983

R. Abrahams Man-of-Words in the West Indies 124: The crossroads group talking old talk or blagging, [...] the casual discourse carried on while liming—sitting or standing around in groups.

7. to pretend.

2001

K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 56: I’ve [...] always blagged it that it’s only a little VAT sting.

8. (N.Z. prison) to shoot (at) someone.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 19/2: blag v. 2 to shoot someone.

9. (Polari) to pick up a sexual partner.

2019

P. Baker Fabulosa 289/2: blag to make a sexual pick-up.

In derivatives

blagger (n.)

1. a thief, esp. a bank robber.

1938		F.D. Sharpe Sharpe of the Flying Squad 15: Hooks, wizzers, blaggers, screwsmen, hoists, and lowly moll buzzers [...] abound in the Underworld of London.
1966		M. Rumaker Exit 3 and Other Stories 95: ‘Ay, it’s you little blygarts!’ croaked a woman’s voice.
1974		G.F. Newman You Flash Bastard 49: They figured the blaggers would go into the jewelry store Saturday night, to give themselves Sunday to work through if need be.
1986		F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 41: Oz knew most of the blaggers from Spennymoor clean through to Berwick-on-Tweed.
1990		D. Campbell That Was Business, This Is Personal 3: The end of the sixties and early seventies saw the emergence of the ‘Face’ [...] They described themselves as ‘at it,’ ‘on the pavement’. The police called them ‘blaggers’.
1999		N. Cohn Yes We Have No 50: Blaggers merely look for soft options.
1999		Guardian G2 11 Aug. 22: The elderly robbers serving up colourful blagger-speak like ‘an odd-mark firm’.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 45: I knew blokes who were blaggers, in and out of banks with sawn-offs.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 19/2: blagger n. an armed robber.
2004		London Posse ‘Money Mad’ 🎵 Could be a kiter, a dipper, a blagger.
2013		K. Sampson Killing Pool 154: All those old-school, born-again blaggers who’ve ‘gone legit’ and crave respectability.

2. a sponger.

2001

OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 Blagger n. used to describe someone who is a bit of a ‘pickey’. They never have their own fags, crisps and will constantly harass someone to give them theirs instead. A bit like a sponger. Can also be used to describe an action, i.e. ‘can I blag a fag off you’.

3. a smooth talker, a persuasive person.

1999		J. Thompson Drama Workshops for Anger Management 43: A blagger was a booster, a sweet talker; a person who could wrap you around their finger with clever excuses for their actions.
1999		A. Shulman Style Bible 33: A club blagger always ‘knows’ the promoter or should be on the guest list [...] A master blagger will have done their homework and will know the right names.
2005		Alia & Bull Media and Ethnic Minorities 65: The notorious black singlet character was an impoverished, happy-go-lucky blagger, often telling tall stories, looking for a free ride.
2016		bbc.com Newsbeat 19 Oct. 🌐 [headline] Manchester Olympic blaggers: We meant no harm and the athletes saw the fun in it.

4. (N.Z. gay) to pick up for sex.

2010

W. Ings ‘Trolling the Beat to Working the Soob’ in Int’l Jrnl Lexicog. 23:1 64: In a cubicle a charvering omee (male prostitute) might discreetly blag (pick up) a homie ajax (a man in a neighbouring stall).

blagging (n.) (UK Und./police)

1. violence, in the course of a robbery.

1952		Aberdeen Eve. Express 20 Dec. 5/6: Their heroes are the older boys who have ‘done a stretch’, maybe for a ‘lorry job’ or for ‘blagging’ which is robbery with violence.
1955		B. Hill Boss of Britain’s Underworld 22: Afterwards I made a statement about the truth of that blagging and Harding got his sentence reduced.
1956		‘Charles Raven’ Und. Nights 183: A tearaway [...] doesn’t mind a job that involves a bit of blagging – i.e., violence, whether it’s tying up a warehouse night-watchman or slugging it out with the crew of a squad car.

2. a robbery, esp. with violence; also attrib.

1970		‘Metropolitan Police Sl.’ in P. Laurie Scotland Yard (1972) 321: blagging, a: a robbery.
1974		G.F. Newman You Flash Bastard 153: The draughtsman being connected with someone safe who was connected in some way with Rosi, who was probably legitimately connected with someone [...] The only people ever nicked were the cowboys actually doing the blagging.
1980		S. McConville ‘Prison Language’ in Michaels & Ricks (1980) 526: Blagging is the term for robbery, for which one might be tooled up (armed).
1981		(con. c.1900) A. Harding in Samuel East End Und. 75: In the early years he used to go what they called ‘shoot-flying’ – stealing watch chains by getting hold of them and tugging. [...] They also called it ‘blagging’.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 19/2: blagging n. an armed robbery.
2004		N. ‘Razor’ Smith A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun 10: This was due to one small piece of information, known only to a handful of blagging teams in the capital.