Bag

Bag, bag, n. a sack, pouch: specially the silken pouch to contain the back-hair of the wig: a measure of quantity for produce: a game-bag, i.e. the quantity of fish or game secured: an udder: (vulg. in pl.) trousers.—v.i. to bulge, swell out: (naut.) to drop away from the right course.—v.t. to cram full: to put into a bag, specially of game, hence to kill game, to seize, steal:—pr.p. bag′ging; pa.p. bagged.—ns. Bag′ging, cloth or material for bags; Bag′git, a salmon that has just spawned.—adj. Bag′gy, loose like a bag: inflated, verbose.—ns. Bag′man, a familiar name for a commercial traveller; Bag′-wig, an 18th-cent. wig, the back-hair of which was enclosed in an ornamental bag.—Bag and baggage, originally a military expression, hence the phrase, 'to march out with bag and baggage,' i.e. with all belongings saved: to make an honourable retreat: now used in the sense of 'to clear out completely.'—Bag of bones, an emaciated living being.—In the bottom of the bag, remaining as a last resource; The whole bag of tricks, every expedient; To give one the bag to hold, to engage any one and meanwhile disappear; To let the cat out of the bag, to disclose the secret. [M. E. bagge, perh. Scand.; not Celtic, as Diez suggests.]