swag

I.

n.

1) Used in the early days, and stillby the criminal class, in the ordinary sense of Thieves'English, as booty, plunder.

1837. J. Mudie, `Felonry of New South Wales,' p. 181:

«In short, having brought with her a supply of the `swag,' asthe convicts call their ill-gotten cash, a wife seldom fails ofhaving her husband assigned to her, in which case thetransported felon finds himself his own master.»

1879. R. H. Barham, `Ingoldsby Legends' (Misadventuresat Margate):

«A landsman said, `I twig the drop, – – he's been upon the mill,

And `cause he gammons so the flats, ve calls him Veepin' Bill.'

He said `he'd done me very brown, and neatly stowed the swag,'

– That's French, I fancy, for a hat, – – or else a carpet-bag.»

2) A special Australian use: a tramp's bundle, wrapt up in ablanket, called a Bluey (q.v.). Used also for apassenger's luggage.

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. ii.p. 59:

«A number of the slang phrases current in St. Giles's Greek bid fair to become legitimatized in thedictionary of this colony: plant, swag, pulling up, and other epithets of theTom and Jerry school, are established – – the drosspassing here as genuine, even among all ranks.»

1853. S. Sidney, `Three Colonies of Australia,' p. 361:

«His leathern overalls, his fancy stick, and his `swag' done upin mackintosh.»

1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i. p. 384:

«There were others with huge swags suspended from a pole, withwhich they went on, like the Children of Israel carrying thegigantic bunches of the grapes of Canaan.»

1865. J. O. Tucker, `Australian Story,' c. i. p. 86:

«The cumbrous weight of blankets that comprised my swag.»

1867. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 127:

«A pair of large double blankets to make the tent of, – – that wasone swag, and a very unwieldy one it was, strapped knapsackfashion, with straps of flax leaves.»

1868. J. Bonwick, `John Batman, Founder of Victoria,' p. 51:

«Three white men, the Sydney natives, and Batman, who carriedhis swag the same as the rest, all armed.»

1871. C. L. Money, `Knocking About in New Zealand,' p. 9:

«With my rug and blankets on my back (such a bundle beingcalled a `swag').»

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' vol. i.p. 285:

«Swag, which consists of his personal properties rolled up ina blanket.»

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 33:

«His cumbrous attire and the huge swag which lay across theseat.»

1888. A. Reischek, in Buller's `Birds of New Zealand,' vol.ii. p. 93:

«With the hope that there would now be a few fine days, I atonce packed up my swag with provisions, ammunition, blanket,&c.»

1892. `The Australasian,' May 7, p. 903, col. 1:

«Kenneth, in front, reminded me comically of Alice's WhiteKnight, what with the billies dancing and jingling on his back,and the tomahawk in his belt, and his large swag in front.»

1896. H. Lawson, `When the World was Wide,' p. 95:

«I suppose he's tramping somewhere,

Where the bushmen carry swags,

Cadging round the wretched stations

With his empty tucker-bags.»

II.

v.

to tramp the bush, carrying a swag.

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 5:

«There was the solitary pedestrian, with the whole of hissupplies, consisting of a blanket and other necessary articles,strapped across his shoulders – – this load is called the `swag,'and the mode of travelling `swagging it.'»