bag of tricks

noun

a container or receptacle of leather, plastic, cloth, paper, etc., capable of being closed at the mouth; pouch.

something resembling or suggesting such a receptacle.

a suitcase or other portable container for carrying articles, as in traveling.

a purse or moneybag.

the amount or quantity a bag can hold.

any of various measures of capacity.

a sac, as in an animal body.

an udder.

Slang. a small glassine or cellophane envelope containing a narcotic drug or a mixture of narcotics.

10.

something hanging in a loose, pouchlike manner, as skin or cloth; a baggy part: He had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep.

11.

Baseball. base¹ ( def 8b ).

12.

Hunting. the amount of game taken, especially by one hunter in one hunting trip or over a specified period.

13.

Slang.

a person's avocation, hobby, major interest, or obsession: Jazz isn't my bag.

a person's mood or frame of mind: The boss is in a mean bag today.

an environment, condition, or situation.

14.

bags.

Informal. plenty; much; many (usually followed by of ): bags of time; bags of money.

Slang. trousers.

verb (used without object)

15.

to swell or bulge: A stiff breeze made the sails bag out.

16.

to hang loosely like an empty bag: His socks bagged at the ankles.

17.

to pack groceries or other items into a bag.

00:10

Bag of tricks is always a great word to know.

So is interrobang. Does it mean:

a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

verb (used with object)

18.

to cause to swell or bulge; distend: The wind bagged the curtain.

19.

to put into a bag.

20.

Informal. to kill or catch, as in hunting: I bagged my first deer when I was a teenager.

21.

Theater, clew ( def 9a ).

interjection

22.

bags!, British Slang. (used to lay first claim to something): Bags it! Bags, I go first!

Idioms

23.

Slang. to quit, abandon, or skip: I bagged my math class today. We'd better bag the deal. I was working too hard so I decided to bag it.

24.

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.

25.

bag of bones, an emaciated person or animal.

26.

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.

27.

hold the bag, Informal. to be forced to bear the entire blame, responsibility, or loss that was to have been shared: His accomplices flew to South America on news of the theft and left him holding the bag.

28.

in the bag, Informal. virtually certain; assured; definite: Her promotion is in the bag. The sale of the house is in the bag.

29.

old bag, Slang. an unattractive, often slatternly woman: a gossipy old bag.

Origin:
1200–50; 1920–25 for def 28; Middle English bagge < Old Norse baggi pack, bundle

Related forms

bag·like, adjective

un·bagged, adjective

Can be confused: bag, baggage, luggage, pack, sac, sack.

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.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To bag of tricks

Collins

World English Dictionary

bag (bæɡ)

—n
1.	a flexible container with an opening at one end
2.	Also called: bagful the contents of or amount contained in such a container
3.	any of various measures of quantity, such as a bag containing 1 hundredweight of coal
4.	a piece of portable luggage
5.	short for handbag
6.	anything that hangs loosely, sags, or is shaped like a bag, such as a loose fold of skin under the eyes or the bulging part of a sail
7.	any pouch or sac forming part of the body of an animal, esp the udder of a cow
8.	hunting the quantity of quarry taken in a single hunting trip or by a single hunter
9.	derogatory, slang an ugly or bad-tempered woman (often in the phrase old bag)
10.	slang a measure of marijuana, heroin, etc, in folded paper
11.	slang a person's particular taste, field of skill, interest, activity, etc: blues is his bag
12.	informal bag and baggage
	a. with all one's belongings
	b. entirely
13.	a bag of bones a lean creature
14.	slang in the bag almost assured of succeeding or being obtained
15.	informal the bag of tricks, the whole bag of tricks every device; everything

—vb , bags, bagging, bagged
16.	(tr) to put into a bag
17.	to bulge or cause to bulge; swell
18.	(tr) to capture or kill, as in hunting
19.	(tr) to catch, seize, or steal
20.	(intr) to hang loosely; sag
21.	(tr) to achieve or accomplish: she bagged seven birdies
22.	informal (Brit) (tr) to reserve or secure the right to do or to have something: he bagged the best chair
23.	slang (Austral) (tr) to criticize; disparage

[C13: probably from Old Norse baggi; related to Old French bague bundle, pack, Medieval Latin baga chest, sack, Flemish bagge]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

bag

early 13c., bagge, from O.N. baggi or a similar Scandinavian source, 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 Eng. 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 fig. 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).

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

bag (bāg)
n.

An anatomical sac or pouch, such as the udder of a cow.
A container of flexible material, such as paper, plastic, or leather, that is used for carrying or storing items.

Slang Dictionary

bag definition

tv.
to capture and arrest someone. (See also bagged. Underworld.) : They bagged the robber with the loot still on him.
n.
an ugly woman. (Rude and derogatory.) : Tell the old bag to mind her own business.
n.
one's preference; something suited to one's preference. : That kind of stuff is so not my bag!
tv.
to obtain something. : I'll try to bag a couple of tickets for you.
n.
a container of drugs. (Drugs. Not necessarily a real bag.) : Two bags of H. for two dimes?
in.
to die. : The guy was coughing so hard that I thought he was going to bag right there.
tv.
to apply a respirator to someone. (Medical. The respirator has a bag attached to hold air.) : Quick, bag him before he boxes.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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bag (so) definition

tv.
to put someone on a respirator. (To apply a medical device, part of which is a rubber bag, used to help someone breathe.) : Bag this guy quick. He is struggling to get his breath.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

American Heritage

Abbreviations & Acronyms

BAG
busting a gut [laughing]

BAg
Bachelor of Agriculture

Easton

Bible Dictionary

Bag definition

(1.) A pocket of a cone-like shape in which Naaman bound two pieces of silver for Gehazi (2 Kings 5:23). The same Hebrew word occurs elsewhere only in Isa. 3:22, where it is rendered "crisping-pins," but denotes the reticules (or as R.V., "satchels") carried by Hebrew women. (2.) Another word (kees) so rendered means a bag for carrying weights (Deut. 25:13; Prov. 16:11; Micah 6:11). It also denotes a purse (Prov. 1:14) and a cup (23:31). (3.) Another word rendered "bag" in 1 Sam. 17:40 is rendered "sack" in Gen. 42:25; and in 1 Sam. 9:7; 21:5 "vessel," or wallet for carrying food. (4.) The word rendered in the Authorized Version "bags," in which the priests bound up the money contributed for the restoration of the temple (2 Kings 12:10), is also rendered "bundle" (Gen. 42:35; 1 Sam. 25:29). It denotes bags used by travellers for carrying money during a journey (Prov. 7:20; Hag. 1:6). (5.) The "bag" of Judas was a small box (John 12:6; 13:29).

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

bag of tricks

One's stock of resources and stratagems, as in Mom can fix anythingyou never know what she will pull out of her bag of tricks. Alluding to the magician's bag of equipment for performing magic tricks, this term was first recorded in 1694, when Jean de La Fontaine, in one of his fables, has a fox carry a sac des ruses ("bag of tricks").

Matching Quote

"What every artist should try to prevent is the car, in which is our civilized life, plunging over the side of the precipice—the exhibitionist extremist promoter driving the whole bag of tricks into a nihilistic nothingness or zero."

-Wyndham Lewis

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