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”)).

Pronunciation

• enPR: băg, IPA^(key): /ˈbæɡ/
  • (Southern England, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈbæːɡ/
  • (New Zealand, some US dialects) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛɡ/
  • (Upper Midwestern US) IPA^(key): /ˈbeɪɡ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Audio (General Australian):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æɡ

Noun

bag (plural bags)

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.

   Synonyms: (obsolete) poke, sack, tote

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.

   Hyponyms: sack, pouch, tote, bindle, purse, backpack

3. (colloquial) One's preference.

   Synonyms: cup of tea, thing; see also Thesaurus:predilection

   Acid House is not my bag: I prefer the more traditional styles of music.

   • 1976, Newton Thornburg, Cutter and Bone, Little, Brown, →ISBN, page 250:

     And from then on, his bag was silence. Silence and killing.

4. (derogatory) An ugly woman.

   Synonyms: dog, hag

5. (baseball) The cloth-covered pillow used for first, second, and third base.

   The grounder hit the bag and bounced over the fielder’s head.

6. (baseball) First, second, or third base.

   He headed back to the bag.

7. (preceded by the) A breathalyzer, so named because it formerly had a plastic bag over the end to measure a set amount of breath.
8. (mathematics) A collection of objects, disregarding order, but (unlike a set) in which elements may be repeated.

   Synonym: multiset

   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}.

9. A sac in animal bodies, containing some fluid or other substance.

   the bag of poison in the mouth of some serpents

   2. An udder, especially the pendulous one of a dairy cow.

      Synonym: milkbag

      Meronym: teats

      Her bag is coming in nicely now.

   4. (usually in the plural) The human female breast.

      Synonyms: milkbag, funbag; see also Thesaurus:breasts

10. (now historical) A pouch tied behind a man's head to hold the back-hair of a wig; a bag wig.
    • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

      [H]e had once lost his bag, and a considerable quantity of hair, which had been cut off by some rascal in his passage through Ludgate, during the lord mayor's procession.

    • 1774, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin 2001, 1 December:

      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.

11. The quantity of game bagged in a hunt.
12. (UK) A unit of measure of cement equal to 94 pounds.
13. (chiefly in the plural) A dark circle under the eye, caused by lack of sleep, drug addiction etc.
    • 2013, Ken Ilgunas, Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom, page 14:

      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 […]

14. (informal) A large number or amount.
15. (slang)
    2. (countable, uncountable) In certain phrases: money.
       • 2014 August 28, Sam Wilhoit, quoting OJ da Juiceman, “The Life and Times of OJ da Juiceman”, in VICE‎, archived from the original on 2023-09-22:

         What about the time you got shot eight times and then played a show the same week? ¶ Oh yeah that was beautiful, I mean it was fucked up that I was shot, but as far as goin' to get that bag I'm always gonna go get that bag.

       • [2019 February 6, Rasha Ali, “Get hip to all the slang words and phrases your kids are using and what they mean, okurrr”, in USA Today‎, McLean, V.A.: Gannett, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-05-16:

         A bag refers to money. So to get a bag or even secure a bag means that you are acquiring money.]

       • 2019 April 4, “Secure The Bag”, Skripteh (lyrics)‎, 1:33:

         Secure the bag, secure the bag
         Grab the stash and hit the trap

    3. (US, gay slang, derogatory) A fellow gay man.
    4. A small envelope that contains drugs, especially narcotics.
    5. (vulgar) The scrotum.
    7. (Cockney rhyming slang) £1000, a grand.
       • 2017 May 2, Figure Flows (lyrics and music), “Money Right”, in Big Figures ft. Purple, from 1:18:

         Coulda got a bag last year
         But now I get a bag for a verse

       • 2023 June 18, “100mph Freestyle x3”, Clavish (lyrics)‎, 1:30:

         My hoodie cost a bag three, my runners cost a bag two

Verb

bag (third-person singular simple present bags, present participle bagging, simple past and past participle bagged)

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.

      • 1909, John Claude White, Sikhim and Bhutan, page 55:

        He was a fine specimen, very large and with a beautiful coat, and I wish I had had the luck to bag him.

      • 1936, F.J. Thwaites, chapter XIV, in The Redemption, Sydney: H. John Edwards, published 1940, page 147:

        "As a matter of fact my thoughts were flashing between Ronda and that man-eating tiger I'm going to bag tomorrow."

   2. To gain possession of something, or to make first claim on something.
      • 2023 May 14, Tan Tam Mei, “Thai election: Early results show opposition parties in the lead”, in The Straits Times‎:

        the two opposition groups have bagged almost 300 of the 500 seats contested in the election.

   3. (slang) To steal.
      • 1950, C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:

        "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."

   4. (slang, African-American Vernacular) To take a woman away with one as a romantic or sexual interest.
      • 2020, “Those Kinda Nights”, in Music to Be Murdered By, performed by Eminem ft. Ed Sheeran:

        When we hit the club to go and hell-raise / Probably end up baggin' the cocktail waitress

   5. (slang) To arrest.

      Synonym: nick

      • 2021 January 29, JS x Jtrapz (lyrics and music), “Straight On Smoke”, 0:54–0:56:

        Free bro, free bro, we got bagged for a M

3. (transitive) To furnish or load with a bag.
   • 1690, [John] Dryden, Don Sebastian, King of Portugal: […], London: […] Jo. Hindmarsh, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page number):

     a bee bagged with his honeyed venom

   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.
      • 1985, Sol S. Zimmerman, Joan Holter Gildea, Critical Care Pediatrics, page 205:

        The patient was bagged for a urine analysis and stat electrolytes were drawn.

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.
      • 1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter III, in Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC:
      • 2004, Andrea Levy, chapter 11, in Small Island‎, London: Review, page 125:

        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?

      His trousers bag at the knees.

   3. (nautical, intransitive) To drop away from the correct course.
   4. (obsolete, intransitive) To become pregnant.
      • 1602, William Warner, “The Sixt Booke. Chapter XXX.”, in Albions England. A Continued Historie of the Same Kingdome, from the Originals of the First Inhabitants thereof: […], 5th edition, London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant for George Potter, […], →OCLC, page 148:

        VVell, Venus ſhortly bagged, and ere long vvas Cupid bread, […]

5. To forget, ignore, or get rid of.
   • 1977, The Publication of Poetry and Fiction, page 97:

     I may just bag that. I think poets have an obligation to boost the magazines they appear in.

   • 1998, Ed Burke, Precision Heart Rate Training, page 78:

     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.

   • 1999, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Ways and Means, 105-1 Hearing: Implementation of Fast Track Trade Authority:

     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?

   • 2002, Glyn Maxwell, Time's Fool: A Tale in Verse, page 296:

     'Oh bag that,' said Nelson. 'Do the Edmund stuff — no, cut, we'll do it later, look, it's knocking midnight.'

   • 2007, Don Pendleton, Ripple Effect, page 322:

     “Or we can bag that part of it and just go straight inside,” Bolan suggested.

   • 2014, Harlan Ellison, Spider Kiss:

     I'll get the sonofa—” “Listen, just bag that punchout shit for the moment. You've got a problem, and don't forget it.

6. (slang, African-American Vernacular) To laugh uncontrollably.
7. (Australia, slang) To criticise sarcastically.

References

• A. F. Niemoeller (1965 January–February) “A Glossary of Homosexual Slang”, in Ralph Ginzburg, editor, Fact, volume 2, number 1, New York, N.Y.: Fact Magazine, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 25: “bag n. A fellow homosexual. Derogatory.”

Anagrams

• -gab-, ABG, AGB, BGA, GAB, GBA, Gab, gab, gab-

Etymology

From French bague.

Noun

bag

1. ring

Alternative forms

• bagu

Etymology

Either of substrate origin or from a Vulgar Latin *begō, from Late Latin bīgō, from Latin bīga. Less likely from Greek βάζω (vázo, “put in, set on”). May have originally referred to putting animals under a yoke. Compare Romanian băga, bag.

Verb

bag first-singular present indicative (past participle bãgatã or bãgate)

1. to put, place, apply
2. to go to bed

Etymology

Probably tied to Old French bac (“flat boat”), itself of obscure origin, although compare Vulgar Latin *baccinum (“wide bowl”).

Noun

bag f

1. boat

Etymology 1

From Old Norse bak n (“back”), from Proto-Germanic *baką, cognate with Norwegian bak, Swedish bak, English back. The preposition is a shortening of Old Norse á bak (“on the back of”), compare English back from aback, from Old English onbæc.

Etymology 2

From the verb to bake.

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Etymology

From French bague (“ring”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baɡ/

Noun

bag

1. ring

Noun

bag

1. cheek

Alternative forms

• bagg

Etymology

Borrowed from English bag, from Old Norse baggi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bæɡ/

Noun

bag m (definite singular bagen, indefinite plural bager, definite plural bagene)

1. A purse more or less similar to a bag or sack.
2. (on a baby carriage) a detachable part of the carriage to lie on.

References

• “bag” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Alternative forms

• bagg

Etymology

Borrowed from English bag, from Old Norse baggi. Doublet of bagge.

Noun

bag m (definite singular bagen, indefinite plural bagar, definite plural bagane)

1. A purse more or less similar to a bag or sack.
2. (on a baby carriage) a detachable part of the carriage to lie on.

References

• “bag” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Alternative forms

• bāch

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *baug (“ring”). Cognate to Old English bēag.

Noun

bāg m

1. a ring

Etymology

From Magadhi Prakrit [Term?], from Sanskrit व्याघ्र (vyāghra).

Noun

bag

1. tiger

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [baɡ]

Verb

bag

1. first-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of băga

Etymology

Borrowed from English bag, from Old Norse baggi.

Noun

bag c

1. A kind of large bag; a duffel bag

Etymology

Borrowed from English bag.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈbaɡ/ [ˈbaɡ̚]
• Rhymes: -aɡ
• Syllabification: bag

Noun

bag (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜄ᜔)

1. ladies' bag; handbag
2. paper or cloth bag

   Synonym: supot

3. jute sack (for grains, cereals, etc.)

   Synonyms: sako, kustal

Etymology

From Meriam bag.

Noun

bag

1. (anatomy, eastern dialect) cheek

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɑːɡ/
• Rhymes: -ɑːɡ
• Hyphenation: bag

Etymology 1

Ultimately from Proto-Turkic *bāg. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Classical Persian بَاغ (bāğ).

Further reading

• “bag” in Enedilim.com
• “bag” in Webonary.org

Etymology

From English bag.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baɡ/
• Rhymes: -aɡ

Noun

bag m (plural bagiau)

1. bag

Mutation

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “bag”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

Pronunciation

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /paːk˧/
• Tone numbers: bag⁸
• Hyphenation: bag

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “From Proto-Tai *bra:kD?”)

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)