1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. ii., p. 255. He
then made his supper, or second meal, for tea he seldom touched, on
fagots. This preparation ... is a sort of cake, roll, or ball, a
number being baked at a time, and is made of chopped liver and
lights, mixed with gravy, and wrapped in pieces of pig’s caul. It
weighs six ounces, so that it is unquestionably a cheap [it costs
1d. hot] and, to the scavager, a savoury meal, but to other
nostrils it’s odour is not seductive.
1870. London Figaro, 2 July. Have you more than a penny? A glorious
perspective opens out before you of all the delicacies of the
season, commencing with trotters—the harmless mutton, or the
succulent swine; ‘faggots,’ etc.
1884. Cornhill Mag., June, p. 615. They can obtain hot faggots, hot
baked potatoes, hot fried fish, or a cut of pork with hot
pease-pudding.
3. (old).—A ‘dummy’ soldier; one hired to appear at a muster to hide
deficiencies. Many names of dummies would appear on the muster-roll:
for these the colonel drew pay, but they were never in the ranks.
1672–1719. Addison [quoted in Imperial Dict.]. There were several
counterfeit books which were carved in wood, and served only to
fill up the number like fagots in the muster of a regiment.
1728. Bailey, Dict., s.v.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Verb (old).—1. To bind hand and foot; to tie [as sticks into a faggot].
Fr., un fagot = a convict, because bound to a common chain on their way
to the hulks.
1728. Bailey, Dict., s.v.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Faggot the culls, bind the
men.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.