Lag, subs. (old).—1. Sentence of transportation or penal servitude;
transportation.
1821. Haggart, Life, p. 18. Under sentence of lag for spunk.
2. (thieves’).—1. A returned transport; (2) a convict; and (3) a
ticket-of-leave man. For synonyms see Wrong ’Un.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Lag, a man transported.
1828. Bee, Living Picture of London, p. 39. A few are returned
lags.
1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, iii. 5. And thus was I bowled out at
last, And into the jug for a lag was cast.
1856. Reade, Never too Late to Mend, ix. ‘He fell in with two old
lags who had a deadly grudge against the chaplain.’
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. lag, a convicted felon.
1864. Daily Telegraph, 19 Oct. The country is so wild and
unexplored, that the lag who has traversed it, or could traverse
it, might re-enter society as a hero if he would impart his
adventures.
1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, i. 59. The prisoner who had
acted as barber, and was an old lag, passing the door, told me,
‘Never mind cleaning your cell, we are all off to-day.’
1889. Answers, 23 Mar., p. 265, col. 3. In the old days many
escapes were made from Chatham by expert swimmers. An old lag (the
slang term for prisoner) told me that twice in his recollection had
men got clean away in this manner.
1890. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up, 248. ‘Are the police coming’. ‘I tinky
not. Only that sundowny lun away like ol’ lag.’
1890. Answers, 27 Dec. He ‘skedaddled out of the dock as quickly as
he could,’ fearing that he might be recognised as an old lag if he
tarried unnecessarily.
1891. Times, 14 Sept. ‘Capital Punishment’. ‘Jack, my dear fellow,’
they top a lag out here (W. Aust.) for slogging a screw. That piece
of rope is a rare check. A ‘screw’ means a ‘policeman’ as well as a
‘warder’.
1892. Tit Bits, 19 Mar., 417, 1. Broadmoor for all lags as go off
their chump.