1853. Diogenes, ii. 54. Sad work when at last I was lagged.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
1869. Daily News, 29 July. He should then be lagged for another job.
1872. Times, 2 Oct. 'Report of Middlesex Sessions.' He had expected to be lagged for a pocket handkerchief.
1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, iii. 93. A Welshman convicted or lagged for passing 'shise coin'—bad money.
1879. Macmillan's Mag., xl. 503. I should have got lagged and my pal too.
1887. Baumann, A Slang Ditty. Rum coves that relieve us of 'chinkers' and pieces, Is gin'rally lagged, Or, wuss luck, they gits scragged.
1880. Sims, How the Poor Live, p. 18. A day or two after Bill returns alone; the girl asks him where her sweetheart is. 'He's lagged,' says Bill. But the girl has a bit of newspaper, and in it she reads that 'the body of a man has been found in some woods near London;' and she has an idea it may be John.
2. (Old Cant).—To steal. For synonyms see Prig.
1580. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. 20, st. 15, p. 54 (E. D. S.). Some corne away lag in bottle and bag. Some steales for a iest, egges out of the nest.
3. (old).—To catch.
1580. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. 36, st. 25, p. 86 (E. D. S.). Poore cunnie, so bagged, is soone over lagged.
1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, Bk. III, ch. 1. p. 252. They tell him adventures of how they were nearly lagged by the constables.
1891. Nat. Gould, Double Event, 263. You'll never lag me alive, you cur.
4. (old).—To piss (q.v.).
5. (old: now recognised).—See quots.
1596. Spenser, Fairy Queen, vi. ii. 10. Whenso she lagged, as she needs mote so, He with his speare . . . would thumpe her forward.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Lag-a-dudds. To lagg behind, or come after with Salt and Spoons.
1725. New Cant. Dict., q.v.
1725. Pope, Odyssey, xiv. 245. My valour . . . never lagg'd behind.
1785. Grose, Vulgar Tongue, s.v. Lag . . . to drop behind, to keep back.
1811. Lex. Bal., q.v.
Lage, see Lag, subs., senses 3 and 4.
Verb. (Old Cant).—To wash down; to drink.
1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), p. 85. The vpright cofe canteth to the Roge: 'I saye by the Salomon I will lage it of with a gage of Benebouse; then cut to my nose watch.'
Lager Beer, To think no lager
beer of one self, verb. phr.
(American).—See small-beer.
1888. Texas Liftings, 23 June. John Ruskin thinks no lager beer of himself. He knows something about pictures and Venice stones. He is boss on these points; but when he breaks out in bursts of opinion on railroads and other modern inventions, his knowledge of the spirit of the present age turns out to be mighty small pumpkins.
Lag-fever, subs. (old).—See quot.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Lag-fever. A term of ridicule applied to men who being under sentence of transportation, pretend illness, to avoid being sent from gaol to the hulks.
LAGGER, subs. (nautical).—1. A sailor.
2. (thieves').—An informer; a witness. [Cf. Lag, verb.].
Lagging, subs. (thieves').—A term
of imprisonment: also Lag (q.v.
subs, sense 1). Hence, lagging-matter
= a crime rendering persons
liable to transportation
(Grose, 1823).
Lagging-dues, subs. (old).—See
quot.
1823. Egan, Grose's Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Lagging-dues. When a person is likely to be transported, the flash people observe, lagging-dues will be concerned.
