bag

Etymology

From Middle English bagge, from Old Norse baggi (“bag, pack, satchel, bundle”) (whence also Old French bague (“bundle, package, sack”)); related to Old Norse bǫggr (“harm, shame; load, burden”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰak- (compare Welsh baich (“load, bundle”), Ancient Greek βάσταγμα (bástagma, “load”)).

noun

1. A soft container made out of cloth, paper, thin plastic, etc. and open at the top, used to hold food, commodities, and other goods.
2. A container made of leather, plastic, or other material, usually with a handle or handles, in which you carry personal items, or clothes or other things that you need for travelling. Includes shopping bags, schoolbags, suitcases, briefcases, handbags, backpacks, etc.
3. (colloquial) One's preference.
   Acid House is not my bag: I prefer the more traditional styles of music.
   And from then on, his bag was silence. Silence and killing. 1976, Newton Thornburg, Cutter and Bone, Little, Brown, page 250
4. (derogatory) An ugly woman.
5. (US, gay slang, derogatory) A fellow gay man.
6. (baseball) The cloth-covered pillow used for first, second, and third base.
   The grounder hit the bag and bounced over the fielder’s head.
7. (baseball) First, second, or third base.
   He headed back to the bag.
8. (preceded by "the") A breathalyzer, so named because it formerly had a plastic bag over the end to measure a set amount of breath.
9. (mathematics) A collection of objects, disregarding order, but (unlike a set) in which elements may be repeated.
   A bag of three apples could be represented symbolically as {a,a,a}. Or, letting 'r' denote 'red apple' and 'g' denote 'green apple', then a bag of three red apples and two green apples could be denoted as {r,r,r,g,g}.
10. A sac in animal bodies, containing some fluid or other substance.
    the bag of poison in the mouth of some serpents
    the bag of a cow
11. (now historical) A pouch tied behind a man's head to hold the back-hair of a wig; a bag wig.
    He had on a suit of Manchester velvet, Lined with white satten, a Bag, lace Ruffles, and a very handsome sword which the King had given to him. 1774, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin 2001, 1 December
12. The quantity of game bagged in a hunt.
13. (slang, vulgar) The scrotum.
14. (UK) A unit of measure of cement equal to 94 pounds.
15. (chiefly in the plural) A dark circle under the eye, caused by lack of sleep, drug addiction etc.
    With gravel stuck to my cheek, I pulled myself back in the car, looked in the rearview mirror, and saw, looking back at me, a young man with a pale face and a purple bag under each eye. I looked pitiful […] 2013, Ken Ilgunas, Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom, page 14
16. (slang) A small envelope that contains drugs, especially narcotics.
17. (Cockney rhyming slang) £1000, a grand.
    Coulda got a bag last year But now I get a bag for a verse 2017-05-02, Figure Flows ft. Purple (lyrics and music), “Money Right”, in Big Figures, from 1:18
    My hoodie cost a bag three, my runners cost a bag two 2023-06-18, “100mph Freestyle x3”, Clavish (lyrics), 1:30
18. (informal) A large number or amount.

verb

1. (transitive) To put into a bag.
2. (transitive) To take with oneself, to assume into one's score
   1. (informal) To catch or kill, especially when fishing or hunting.
      We bagged three deer yesterday.
      He was a fine specimen, very large and with a beautiful coat, and I wish I had had the luck to bag him. 1909, John Claude White, Sikhim and Bhutan, page 55
      "As a matter of fact my thoughts were flashing between Ronda and that man-eating tiger I'm going to bag tomorrow." 1936, F.J. Thwaites, chapter XIV, in The Redemption, Sydney: H. John Edwards, published 1940, page 147
   2. To gain possession of something, or to make first claim on something.
      the two opposition groups have bagged almost 300 of the 500 seats contested in the election. 2023-05-14, Tan Tam Mei, “Thai election: Early results show opposition parties in the lead”, in The Straits Times
   3. (slang) To steal.
      "I am sure nobody would mind," said Susan. "It isn't as if we wanted to take them out of the house; we shan't take them even out of the wardrobe." "I never thought of that, Su," said Peter. "Of course, now you put it that way, I see. No one could say you had bagged a coat as long as you leave it in the wardrobe where you found it. And I suppose this whole country is in the wardrobe." 1950, C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
   4. (slang, African-American Vernacular) To take a woman away with one as a romantic or sexual interest.
      When we hit the club to go and hell-raise / Probably end up baggin' the cocktail waitress 2020, “Those Kinda Nights”, in Music to Be Murdered By, performed by Eminem ft. Ed Sheeran
   5. (slang) To arrest.
      Free bro, free bro, we got bagged for a M 29-01-2021, JS x Jtrapz (lyrics and music), “Straight On Smoke”, 0:54–0:56
3. (transitive) To furnish or load with a bag.
   1. (transitive, medicine) To provide with artificial ventilation via a bag valve mask (BVM) resuscitator.
   2. (transitive, medicine) To fit with a bag to collect urine.
      The patient was bagged for a urine analysis and stat electrolytes were drawn. 1985, Sol S. Zimmerman, Joan Holter Gildea, Critical Care Pediatrics, page 205
4. To expose exterior shape or physical behaviour resembling that of a bag
   1. (obsolete, transitive, intransitive) To (cause to) swell or hang down like a full bag.
      The skin bags from containing morbid matter.
      The brisk wind bagged the sails.
   2. To hang like an empty bag.
      And this uniform did not even fit me so well. But what is a little bagging on the waist and tightness under the arm when you are a gallant member of the British Royal Air Force? 2004, Andrea Levy, chapter 11, in Small Island, London: Review, page 125
      His trousers bag at the knees.
   3. (nautical, intransitive) To drop away from the correct course.
   4. (obsolete, intransitive) To become pregnant.
      Venus shortly bagged, and ere long was Cupid bread
5. To forget, ignore, or get rid of.
   I may just bag that. I think poets have an obligation to boost the magazines they appear in. 1977, The Publication of Poetry and Fiction, page 97
   Well, even if your VCR is still blinking “12:00," I hope you're smart enough to stay inside when it's that cold and just bag that workout. 1998, Ed Burke, Precision Heart Rate Training, page 78
   I will just bag that. If not in the trade bill, that people believe should not interfere with the President's ability to negotiate a trade agreement, how would it be dealt with? 1999, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Ways and Means, 105-1 Hearing: Implementation of Fast Track Trade Authority
   'Oh bag that,' said Nelson. 'Do the Edmund stuff — no, cut, we'll do it later, look, it's knocking midnight.' 2002, Glyn Maxwell, Time's Fool: A Tale in Verse, page 296
   “Or we can bag that part of it and just go straight inside,” Bolan suggested. 2007, Don Pendleton, Ripple Effect, page 322
   I'll get the sonofa—” “Listen, just bag that punchout shit for the moment. You've got a problem, and don't forget it. 2014, Harlan Ellison, Spider Kiss
6. (slang, African American Vernacular) To laugh uncontrollably.
7. (Australia, slang) To criticise sarcastically.