to swell or bulge: A stiff breeze made the sails bag out.
to hang loosely like an empty bag: His socks bagged at the ankles.
to pack groceries or other items into a bag.
verb (used with object),bagged,bag·ging.
to cause to swell or bulge; distend: The wind bagged the curtain.
to put into a bag.
Informal. to kill or catch, as in hunting: I bagged my first deer when I was a teenager.
Slang. to quit, abandon, or skip (often used in the phrase bag it): I bagged my math class today. We'd better bag the deal. I was working too hard so I decided to bag it.
bags!BritishSlang. (used to lay first claim to something): Bags it! Bags, I go first!
Idioms
bag and baggage,
with all one's personal property: When they went to collect the rent, they found he had left, bag and baggage.
completely, totally: The equipment had disappeared, bag and baggage, without even the slightest trace.
bag of bones, an emaciated person or animal.
bag of tricks, a supply of expedient resources; stratagems: Maybe they will finally be honest with us, once they've run through their bag of tricks.
in the bag, Informal. virtually certain; assured; definite: Her promotion is in the bag. The sale of the house is in the bag.
leave holding the bag/sack, Informal. to force to bear the entire blame, responsibility, or loss that was to have been shared: His accomplices flew to South America and he was left holding the bag.
old bag, Slang. an unattractive, often slatternly woman: a gossipy old bag.
Origin of bag
1200–50;1920–25for def 29; Middle Englishbagge < Old Norsebaggi pack, bundle
Related formsbag·like, adjectiveun·bagged, adjectiveCan be confusedbagsacsacksacque
Regional variation note
1. Although bag and sack are both used everywhere throughout the U.S., the more commonly used word in the North Midland U.S. is bag and in the South Midland is sack.
c.1200, bagge, from Old Norse baggi or a similar Scandinavian source; not found in other Germanic languages, perhaps ultimately of Celtic origin. Disparaging slang for "woman" dates from 1924 (though various specialized senses of this are much older). Meaning "person's area of interest or expertise" is 1964, from Black English slang, from jazz sense of "category," probably via notion of putting something in a bag.
To be left holding the bag (and presumably nothing else), "cheated, swindled" is attested by 1793. Many figurative senses are from the notion of the game bag (late 15c.) into which the product of the hunt was placed; e.g. the verb meaning "to kill game" (1814) and its colloquial extension to "catch, seize, steal" (1818). To let the cat out of the bag "reveal the secret" is from 1760.
bag
v.
mid-15c., "to swell out like a bag;" also "to put money in a bag," from bag (n.). Earliest verbal sense was "to be pregnant" (c.1400). Of clothes, "to hang loosely," 1824. For sense "catch, seize, steal," see bag (n.). Related: Bagged; bagging.
Abandon someone, force someone to bear the responsibility or blame. For example, Her friends said they were too busy to help with cleaning up, and left Lucy holding the bag. This expression is often put as be left holding the bag, as in When they quit the clean-up committee, Lucy was left holding the bag. This idiom grew out of the earlier give one the bag (to hold), which dates from about 1600 and alludes to being left with an empty bag while others have taken the valuable contents. Also see leave in the lurch.
