To empty the bag, phr. (old).—To tell, or disclose the whole truth; to
wind up an argument or discussion.
To give the bag, phr. (old).—1. Formerly used in varying senses. In
the following quotation it conveys, says Nares, the idea of chicanery
and cheating. This, however, is doubtful, but compare ‘to give the bag
to hold.’
1592. Greene, Quip, in works IX., 263. You shall be ... lighte
witted upon every small occasion to geue your maister the bagge.
2. In another respect to give the bag was used in a sense analogous to
that conveyed in to give the sack (q.v.), i.e., to dismiss a person
from one’s employment, with this important difference that primarily
the ‘bag’ or ‘sack’ was not given by the master or mistress to the
servant, but vice versâ, and, therefore, the expression meant ‘to leave
without warning.’ This was the earliest usage.
1592. Defence of Conny Catching, in Greene’s works XI., 86. If he
meane to giue her the bagge, he selleth whatsoever he can, and so
leaues hir spoild both of hir wealth and honestie.
1647. Speedy Hue and Crie, I.... He being sometime an Apprentice on
London Bridge ... gave his master the bag. [M.]
Gradually the meaning of to give the bag changed to that which, even
to-day, is dialectically current, i.e., ‘to dismiss a person from one’s
employment,’ though in large centres of population to give or receive
the sack is, at present, the more popular equivalent. While dealing
with variations of this kind, it is noteworthy that ‘bag’ was, in the
seventeenth century, varied by ‘canvas,’ as Shirley has it——
1652. Shirley, The Brothers, Act ii. I have promis’d him as much as
marriage comes to, and I lose my honour, if my don receive the
canvas.
Gifford and Dyce in a note say ‘the phrase is taken from the practice
of journeymen mechanics who travel in quest of work, with the
implements of their profession. When they are discharged by their
masters, they are said to receive the canvas, or the bag; because in
this their tools and necessaries are packed up, preparatory to their
removal.’ This suggested derivation would possibly pass muster were it
not that, treated historically, the phrase though identical in form is
shown to have had an earlier usage, and one, moreover, of an entirely
antagonistic character; unless indeed, in the first instance, it was
customary for employers to find ‘bags’ of tools and working implements
for their employees, in which case the workman or servant in leaving
his work would naturally give the master the bag. The transition in
sense which the phrase has undergone would then become perfectly clear,
as far as the why and wherefore of the change is concerned. Cf., Sack.
To give one the bag to hold, phr. (old).—To leave in the lurch; to
engage a person’s attention in order to deceive. Cf., To give the bag,
sense 1.
1793. T. Jefferson, Writings (1859), iv., 7. She will leave Spain
the bag to hold. [M.]
1823. Scott, Peveril of the Peak, vii. She gave me the bag to hold
and was smuggling in a corner with a rich old Puritan.
In the bottom of the bag, phr. (old).—An expression equivalent to
what, in modern slang, is termed ‘having a trump card in reserve’;
something in hand as a last resource or expedient.
1659. Reynolds, in Burton Diary (1828), iv., 447. If this be done
which is in the bottom of the bag, and must be done, we shall ...
be able to buoy up our reputation, [M.]
To let the cat out of the bag, phr. (familiar).—To disclose a trick or
secret.—See Cat.
To put one in a bag, phr. (old).—Usage and derivation explained, as far
as known, in quotation.
1662. Fuller, Worthies, Cardigan (ii., 579). They (the Welsh) had a
kind of play wherein the stronger who prevailed put the weaker into
a sack; and hence we have borrowed our English by-word to express
such, betwixt whom there is apparent odds of strength. ‘He is able
to put him up in a bagge.’ [d.]
1676. Earl of Rochester, Hist. of Insipids, st. 14.
Had haughty Holms but call’d in Spragg,
Hans had been put into a bag.
To put or get one’s head in a bag, phr. (printers’).—A ‘bag’ here
signifies a pot of beer; hence, to drink. Also in use amongst seafaring
men.
1887. Sat. Review, 14 May, p. 700. It is slang, and yet purely
trade slang, when one printer says of another that he has got his
head in the bag.
To turn to bag and wallet (old).—To become a beggar.
Verb. (popular).—1. To secure for oneself. Most probably a mere
extension of the colloquial sporting usage of to bag (properly, to put
or enclose in a bag), in the sense of to seize, capture, entrap, or
otherwise bring within one’s reach.
1880. Mortimer Collins, Thoughts in my Garden, vol. I., p. 163. The
word beggar itself is from bag—meaning a man who carries a bag; and
modern commercial slang reproduces the phrase, saying of a clever
man of business that he has bagged a good thing.
2. To steal; or to catch (a thief or man). Sometimes rendered by to
collar (q.v.).
1818. Moore, Fudge Family in Paris, VI. Who can help to bag a few,
When Sidmouth wants a death or two?
1862. Farrar, St. Winifred’s, ch. xxxv. They would not call it
stealing but bagging a thing, or, at the worst, ‘cribbing
it’—concealing the villainy under a new name.
3. (old).—To beget; to conceive; to breed. Also to be bagged. This
usage dates from about A.D. 1400, and was colloquial until about the
middle of the seventeenth century. Warner [in Alb. Eng. VI., 148] has
the line
Well, Venus shortly bagged, and ere long was Cupid bred.
To get baggy, phr. (common).—Said of clothes when loosened by the
stretching which arises from wear and tear. Trousers get baggy at the
knees.
Bag and Baggage, phr. (common).—To clear one out bag and baggage is to
get quit of one entirely. A deprecatory expression indicating complete
riddance.
Bag and Bottle, subs. phr. (old).—Food and drink. The former from being
carried in a bag as by beggars and vagrants; the latter also being of
similar derivation.
1671. Eachard, Observations. An ill-contriving rascal that in his
younger years should choose to lug the bag and the bottle a mile or
two to school; and to bring home only a small bit of Greek or Latin
most magisterially construed.
Baggage. Heavy baggage, subs. phr. (old).—1. Women and
children.—Grose.
2. Baggage is also a familiar colloquialism for a pert, saucy, young
woman; like ‘wench,’ ‘rogue,’ ‘gypsy,’ it is often used endearingly.
1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, I., iii. I believe the baggage loves
me.
1732. Fielding, The Miser, Act i., Sc. 9. Here’s a baggage of a
daughter, who refuses the most advantageous match that ever was
offered.
1863. Alex. Smith, Dreamthorpe, p. 12. And Beauty, who is something
of a coquette ... goes off in a huff. Let the baggage go!