1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2nd ed.).
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Fag the bloss, beat the wench.
Fagger, Figger, or Figure, subs. (old).—A boy thief whose duty is to
enter houses by windows and either open the doors to his confederates
(as Oliver Twist with Bill Sykes), or hand out the ‘swag’ to them; also
little snakesman (q.v.); cf., Diver.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London, s.v.
Fagging, or Faggery, subs. (public schools’).—Waiting upon and doing
menial work for a school-fellow in a higher form. Also used
adjectively.
1853. De Quincey, Autob. Sketches, i., 210. Faggery was an abuse
too venerable and sacred to be touched by profane hands.
1873. Pall Mall Gazette, 17 May. The Winchester ‘tunding’ system,
with all its faults, is hardly less objectionable than the fagging
system pursued in the Scotch endowed hospitals.
Faggot, subs. (common).—1. A term of opprobrium applied to women; a
‘baggage.’ [At one time a faggot was a popular symbol of recantation of
opinions thought worthy only of burning (Bailey, 1728), and heretics
who had thus escaped the stake were required either to bear a faggot
and burn it in public, or to wear an imitation on the sleeve as a
badge.] Also used in combination: e.g., Bed- (or Straw-) Faggot = a
wife, or mistress; Tumble-faggot = a whoremaster; Carry-faggot = a
mattress; and Spike- (or Tickle-) faggot (obsolete) = the penis.
1820. Reynolds (‘P. Corcoran’), The Fancy, p. 16. I have got a
faggot here, Aye, and quite a bad one; Were I married, p’rhaps my
dear Might think that he too had one.