blag

Etymology 1

The origin of the noun is unknown. The verb is derived from the noun.

noun

1. (Britain, criminal slang) An armed robbery or robbery involving violence; also, theft.
   'What's he do, Micky?' / 'Armed blags is what I hear – s'posed to be one or two nice little tucks down to him that he didn't go for. He keeps well active. Someone told me he's putting one together now.[…]' 1977, G[ordon] F[rank] Newman, chapter 4, in Law and Order, St. Albans, Hertfordshire: Granada Publishing, published 1983, page 40
   Through Lenny I had met a character whom I shall call Billy. He was part of a blag team famous for a series of large-scale wage snatches. 1997, Stephen Smith, “Helter Skelter Years”, in Addict: An Incredible True Story with a Fairytale End, [United Kingdom]: Westworld International
   They're turning over any business that couldn't go running back to the Other People, sex shops and massage parlours, doing blags long after they went outta fashion, doing loads of drugs and not giving a fuck about keeping a low profile. 2000 April, J. J. Connolly, “April Fool’s Day 1997: Welcome to the Layer Cake”, in Layer Cake, London: Duck Editions, Duckworth Literary Entertainments, published July 2001, page 6
   Darlin' – I know your old man's keen for you to learn the ropes an' all that, but let's not forget who's running this blag, shall we? 2005, Echo Freer, chapter 1, in Diamond Geezers, London: Hodder Children’s Books, Hodder Headline, page 2

verb

1. (transitive, Britain, criminal slang) To obtain (something) through armed robbery or robbery involving violence, or theft; to rob; to steal.

Etymology 2

The origin of the verb is uncertain; it is possibly: * from blag (“to rob; to steal”) (see etymology 1); or * borrowed from French blaguer (“to joke (about); to tell a lie”), from blague (“pouch, especially for tobacco; joke (from the notion of something puffed up, and thus fanciful)”) (from Dutch balg (“leather bag”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ- (“to swell”)) + -er (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs). The adjective and noun are probably derived from the verb.

verb

1. (transitive)
   1. To obtain (something) for free, particularly by guile or persuasion.
      Can I blag a fag?
      He’s blagged his way into many a party.
      He was just off to the Tramway to see that Dutch dance company. He said we could probably blag free tickets, they're desperate to paper the house. 1998, Ajay Close, chapter 21, in Forspoken, London: Vintage Books, published 1999, page 258
      A couple of others [websites] are hosted by U-Net (www.vianetworks.co.uk), which provided free space because I'm an unprincipled journo and I blagged it. 2004 January, Huw Collingbourne, “Rants and Raves: The Host with the Most”, in PC Plus, number 211, Bath, Somerset: Future plc, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 241, column 1
      He later recalled that blagging a cab ride to Warrington Dallam shed on Stanier '8F' 48531 was a life-changing experience. 25 January 2023, Howard Johnston, “Peter Kelly: August 2 1944 – December 28 2022”, in Rail, number 975, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 46
      1. (specifically) To obtain (confidential information) by impersonation or other deception; also, to deceive (someone) into disclosing confidential information.
         The newspaper is accused of blagging details of the prime minister’s flat purchase from his solicitors.
         I worked for a trace agency. The years became a blur. Your every day is spent ringing people to blag information out of them. You can do this in a nice way, but truth is, you choose the quickest. 2004, Anna Maxted, chapter 2, in Being Committed, New York, N.Y.: ReganBooks, page 13
         Matt Driscoll claimed that "blagging", or impersonating a third party, was used to secure the confidential information after receiving a tip that [Alex] Ferguson might be suffering from ill health. The former journalist added: "I was told sometimes you'd get a situation where if an investigator sent a fax to a GP or a hospital saying 'I'm his specialist, I need these details' it was incredible how often that would just get sent straight back." A noun use. 2012, Alan Gillies, “Threats to the Security of Your Information”, in Data Protection for Slightly Bigger Companies, [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu.com, page 47
         [H]e also became a specialist in blagging British Telecom and mobile phone companies, from whom he extracted ex-directory numbers, lists of Friends and Family numbers, and rocs. He claimed that his thousands of victims included the Queen, Princess Diana and David Beckham. 2014, Nick Davies, “Crime in Fleet Street”, in Hack Attack: How the Truth Caught Up with Rupert Murdoch, London: Vintage Books, part 1 (Crime and Concealment), page 80
   2. To obtain (something desired), or avoid (something undesired), through improvisation or luck; to fluke, to get away with.
      ‘For the first six years I was a total chancer,’ he Alan McGee] said. ‘I blagged it. All I did was keep choosing the right band and try not to fuck it up too much, which I usually did. […] [N]obody taught me to run a record company and I’ve made millions of mistakes.’ 1996, Paul Mathur, “Creation and Faith”, in Take Me There: Oasis, the Story, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, published 1997, page 21
      Carly (played by Vinette Robinson): Now we’ve got just about enough lamb? / Freeman: No, we haven’t got enough lamb. / Carly: We’ve got eno— – we’ve got enough. / Andy Jones (played by Stephen Graham): All right. I’m sorry, lad. What’s your fucking problem? / Freeman: What’s my problem, Andy? It’s time and time a-fucking-gain. You’re not doing your job. / Carly: Freeman, Freeman. / Andy Jones: I can’t do them now, I didn’t do them last night, did I? I’m sorry, I apologise. I apologise. Have I said I’m sorry? Have I said I’m sorry? / Freeman: We’ve blagged it. It’s fine. We’ve got a menu for tonight. 23 August 2021, Philip Barantini, James Cummings, 12:18 from the start, in Philip Barantini, director, Boiling Point (film), spoken by Freeman (Ray Panthaki)
   3. To use guile or persuasion on (someone); also, to deceive or perpetrate a hoax on (someone).
      He asks me afterwards if I realize what a lot of 'blagging' (bull) there is in his job. I reply, 'You blagging him or him blagging you?' / 'Oh no, blagging him,' he says. 'When you give him a ticket or something, you have to be nice to them.' 1987, Roger Grimshaw, Tony Jefferson, “Patrol Report”, in Interpreting Policework: Policy and Practice in Forms of Beat Policing, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire: Allen & Unwin, part II (The Unit Beat System), page 58
   4. (Polari) To meet and seduce (someone) for romantic purposes, especially in a social situation; to pick up.
      Derek Jarman had also publicly identified himself as HIV-positive, while at the same time celebrating what the mainstream press saw and criticized as a promiscuous irresponsibility in blagging trade on Hampstead Heath, an infamous (and very popular) gay cruising ground in North London. 1997, Ian Lucas, “The Color of His Eyes: Polari and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence”, in Anna Livia, Kira Hall, editors, Queerly Phrased: Language, Gender, and Sexuality, New York, N.Y., Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, page 89
2. (intransitive) To speak persuasively or with guile to obtain something.
   Some of my readers will undoubtedly call in question the veracity of what follows, and brand it with the title which is commonly called blagging still. This appellation cannot debilitate its sincerity; […] A noun use. Possibly a different sense of blag? 1864, Jeremiah O’Donovan, A Brief Account of the Author’s Interview with His Countrymen, and of the Parts of the Emerald Isle whence They Emigrated.[…], Pittsburgh, Pa.: Published by the author, →OCLC, page 44

adj

1. (Britain, informal) Not genuine; fake.
   You’re wearing a blag designer shirt!

noun

1. An attempt to obtain, or the means of obtaining, something by guile or persuasion; a trick.
   A good blag to get into a nightclub is to walk in carrying a record box.
2. An act of deceiving; a con, a deception, a hoax.
   Because I used to run cons with him. I came up here as a nun, but that was just a blag to make money out of the miners. 2013, Janis Pegrum Smith, More than Gold, [United Kingdom]: T*P Books, Wilton End Publishing
   Anyone who claims to be operating on a model designed to fulfil the will of Jesus, or Allah, or Krishna, or anyone, who isn't first and foremost dedicated to the union of all humankind and service of the needy is on a massive blag. 2014, Russell Brand, “Tiny Problems in Infinite Space”, in Revolution, London: Century, Random House, page 68

Etymology 3

Coined by the American author, cartoonist, and engineer Randall Munroe (born 1984) in his webcomic xkcd in 2006: see the quotation.

noun

1. (humorous, informal) Deliberate misspelling of blog.
   Why don't you write about it in your blag? 25 August 2006, Randall Munroe, “Mispronouncing”, in xkcd, archived from the original on 2023-03-16
   RONFLMAF! You do have a way with words. I think I need to update my blag, this is just too good. 16 November 2010, “Slogoin” [pseudonym], “Tashi, Take a Look at This on Larry Deack’s Web Site”, in rec.music.classical.guitar (Usenet), retrieved 2023-03-17
   So, no less than ten people have asked me why the hell I did what I did, so here's a blag post to explain it, I guess. 2 June 2011, “flatfish+++” [pseudonym], “Article: ‘Why I’m a Bad Freetard – Or the Quest for a New Phone’”, in comp.os.linux.advocacy (Usenet)

Etymology 4

Borrowed from Tagalog blag, ultimately onomatopoeic.

intj

1. (Philippines) Used to represent the sound of a dull impact.