blag

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See also: Appendix:Variations of "blag"

English

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WOTD – 22 June 2023

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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The origin of the noun is unknown. The verb is derived from the noun.[1]

Noun

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blag (plural blags)

  1. (British, criminal slang) An armed robbery or robbery involving violence; also, theft.
    • 1977, G[ordon] F[rank] Newman, chapter 4, in Law and Order, St. Albans, Hertfordshire: Granada Publishing, published 1983, →ISBN, page 40:
      'What's he do, Micky?' / 'Armed blags is what I hear – s'posed to be one or two nice little tucks down to him that he didn't go for. He keeps well active. Someone told me he's putting one together now. […]'
    • 1997, Stephen Smith, “Helter Skelter Years”, in Addict: An Incredible True Story with a Fairytale End, [United Kingdom]: Westworld International, →ISBN:
      Through Lenny I had met a character whom I shall call Billy. He was part of a blag team famous for a series of large-scale wage snatches.
    • 2000 April, J. J. Connolly, “April Fool’s Day 1997: Welcome to the Layer Cake”, in Layer Cake, London: Duck Editions, Duckworth Literary Entertainments, published July 2001, →ISBN, page 6:
      They're turning over any business that couldn't go running back to the Other People, sex shops and massage parlours, doing blags long after they went outta fashion, doing loads of drugs and not giving a fuck about keeping a low profile.
    • 2005, Echo Freer, chapter 1, in Diamond Geezers, London: Hodder Children’s Books, Hodder Headline, →ISBN, page 2:
      Darlin' – I know your old man's keen for you to learn the ropes an' all that, but let's not forget who's running this blag, shall we?
Translations
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Verb

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blag (third-person singular simple present blags, present participle blagging, simple past and past participle blagged)

  1. (transitive, British, criminal slang) To obtain (something) through armed robbery or robbery involving violence, or theft; to rob; to steal.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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The origin of the verb is uncertain; it is possibly:

The adjective and noun[4] are probably derived from the verb.

Verb

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blag (third-person singular simple present blags, present participle blagging, simple past and past participle blagged) (British, Ireland, informal)

  1. (transitive)
    1. To obtain (something) for free, particularly by guile or persuasion.
      Synonyms: inveigle, sponge; see also Thesaurus:scrounge
      Can I blag a fag?
      He’s blagged his way into many a party.
      • 1998, Ajay Close, chapter 21, in Forspoken, London: Vintage Books, published 1999, →ISBN, page 258:
        He was just off to the Tramway to see that Dutch dance company. He said we could probably blag free tickets, they're desperate to paper the house.
      • 2004 January, Huw Collingbourne, “Rants and Raves: The Host with the Most”, in PC Plus, number 211, Bath, Somerset: Future plc, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 241, column 1:
        A couple of others [websites] are hosted by U-Net (www.vianetworks.co.uk), which provided free space because I'm an unprincipled journo and I blagged it.
      • 2023 January 25, Howard Johnston, “Peter Kelly: August 2 1944 – December 28 2022”, in Rail, number 975, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 46:
        He later recalled that blagging a cab ride to Warrington Dallam shed on Stanier '8F' 48531 was a life-changing experience.
      1. (specifically) To obtain (confidential information) by impersonation or other deception; also, to deceive (someone) into disclosing confidential information.
        Synonym: pretext
        The newspaper is accused of blagging details of the prime minister’s flat purchase from his solicitors.
        • 2004, Anna Maxted, chapter 2, in Being Committed, New York, N.Y.: ReganBooks, →ISBN, page 13:
          I worked for a trace agency. The years became a blur. Your every day is spent ringing people to blag information out of them. You can do this in a nice way, but truth is, you choose the quickest.
        • 2012, Alan Gillies, “Threats to the Security of Your Information”, in Data Protection for Slightly Bigger Companies, [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 47:
          Matt Driscoll claimed that "blagging", or impersonating a third party, was used to secure the confidential information after receiving a tip that [Alex] Ferguson might be suffering from ill health. The former journalist added: "I was told sometimes you'd get a situation where if an investigator sent a fax to a GP or a hospital saying 'I'm his specialist, I need these details' it was incredible how often that would just get sent straight back."
          A noun use.
        • 2014, Nick Davies, “Crime in Fleet Street”, in Hack Attack: How the Truth Caught Up with Rupert Murdoch, London: Vintage Books, →ISBN, part 1 (Crime and Concealment), page 80:
          [H]e also became a specialist in blagging British Telecom and mobile phone companies, from whom he extracted ex-directory numbers, lists of Friends and Family numbers, and rocs. He claimed that his thousands of victims included the Queen, Princess Diana and David Beckham.
    2. To obtain (something desired), or avoid (something undesired), through improvisation or luck; to fluke, to get away with.
      • 1996, Paul Mathur, “Creation and Faith”, in Take Me There: Oasis, the Story, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, published 1997, →ISBN, page 21:
        ‘For the first six years I was a total chancer,’ he [Alan McGee] said. ‘I blagged it. All I did was keep choosing the right band and try not to fuck it up too much, which I usually did. […] [N]obody taught me to run a record company and I’ve made millions of mistakes.’
      • 2021 August 23, Philip Barantini, James Cummings, 12:18 from the start, in Philip Barantini, director, Boiling Point (film), spoken by Freeman (Ray Panthaki):
        Carly (played by Vinette Robinson): Now we’ve got just about enough lamb? / Freeman: No, we haven’t got enough lamb. / Carly: We’ve got eno— – we’ve got enough. / Andy Jones (played by Stephen Graham): All right. I’m sorry, lad. What’s your fucking problem? / Freeman: What’s my problem, Andy? It’s time and time a-fucking-gain. You’re not doing your job. / Carly: Freeman, Freeman. / Andy Jones: I can’t do them now, I didn’t do them last night, did I? I’m sorry, I apologise. I apologise. Have I said I’m sorry? Have I said I’m sorry? / Freeman: We’ve blagged it. It’s fine. We’ve got a menu for tonight.
    3. To use guile or persuasion on (someone); also, to deceive or perpetrate a hoax on (someone).
      • 1987, Roger Grimshaw, Tony Jefferson, “Patrol Report”, in Interpreting Policework: Policy and Practice in Forms of Beat Policing, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire: Allen & Unwin, →ISBN, part II (The Unit Beat System), page 58:
        He asks me afterwards if I realize what a lot of 'blagging' (bull) there is in his job. I reply, 'You blagging him or him blagging you?' / 'Oh no, blagging him,' he says. 'When you give him a ticket or something, you have to be nice to them.'
    4. (Polari) To meet and seduce (someone) for romantic purposes, especially in a social situation; to pick up.
      • 1997, Ian Lucas, “The Color of His Eyes: Polari and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence”, in Anna Livia, Kira Hall, editors, Queerly Phrased: Language, Gender, and Sexuality, New York, N.Y., Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 89:
        Derek Jarman had also publicly identified himself as HIV-positive, while at the same time celebrating what the mainstream press saw and criticized as a promiscuous irresponsibility in blagging trade on Hampstead Heath, an infamous (and very popular) gay cruising ground in North London.
  2. (intransitive) To speak persuasively or with guile to obtain something.
    • 1864, Jeremiah O’Donovan, A Brief Account of the Author’s Interview with His Countrymen, and of the Parts of the Emerald Isle whence They Emigrated. […], Pittsburgh, Pa.: Published by the author, →OCLC, page 44:
      Some of my readers will undoubtedly call in question the veracity of what follows, and brand it with the title which is commonly called blagging still. This appellation cannot debilitate its sincerity; […]
      A noun use. Possibly a different sense of blag?
Derived terms
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Translations
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Adjective

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blag (comparative more blag, superlative most blag)

  1. (British, informal) Not genuine; fake.
    You’re wearing a blag designer shirt!
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Noun

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blag (plural blags) (British, informal)

  1. An attempt to obtain, or the means of obtaining, something by guile or persuasion; a trick.
    A good blag to get into a nightclub is to walk in carrying a record box.
  2. An act of deceiving; a con, a deception, a hoax.
    • 2013, Janis Pegrum Smith, More than Gold‎[1], [United Kingdom]: T*P Books, Wilton End Publishing, →ISBN:
      Because I used to run cons with him. I came up here as a nun, but that was just a blag to make money out of the miners.
    • 2014, Russell Brand, “Tiny Problems in Infinite Space”, in Revolution, London: Century, Random House, →ISBN, page 68:
      Anyone who claims to be operating on a model designed to fulfil the will of Jesus, or Allah, or Krishna, or anyone, who isn't first and foremost dedicated to the union of all humankind and service of the needy is on a massive blag.
Translations
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Etymology 3

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Coined by the American author, cartoonist, and engineer Randall Munroe (born 1984) in his webcomic xkcd in 2006: see the quotation.

Noun

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blag (plural blags)

  1. (humorous, informal) Deliberate misspelling of blog. [from 2006]
    • 2006 August 25, Randall Munroe, “Mispronouncing”, in xkcd‎[2], archived from the original on 2023-03-16:
      Why don't you write about it in your blag?
    • 2010 November 16, “Slogoin” [pseudonym], “Tashi, Take a Look at This on Larry Deack’s Web Site”, in rec.music.classical.guitar‎[3] (Usenet), retrieved 2023-03-17:
      RONFLMAF! You do have a way with words. I think I need to update my blag, this is just too good.
    • 2011 June 2, “flatfish+++” [pseudonym], “Article: ‘Why I’m a Bad Freetard – Or the Quest for a New Phone’”, in comp.os.linux.advocacy‎[4] (Usenet):
      So, no less than ten people have asked me why the hell I did what I did, so here's a blag post to explain it, I guess.
Derived terms
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Translations
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References

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  1. ^ “n.1 blag, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2023.
  2. ^ “blag, v.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2022.
  3. ^ “blag, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. ^ “blag, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2022; “blag, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Antillean Creole

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Etymology

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From French blague.

Noun

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blag

  1. joke

German Low German

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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blag

  1. Alternative spelling of blaag

Serbo-Croatian

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Etymology

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Inherited from Proto-Slavic *bolgъ.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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blȃg (Cyrillic spelling бла̑г, definite blȃgī, comparative blȁžī)

  1. mild, gentle, soft, slight
    Skrenite blago ulijevo. ― Turn slightly to the left.
  2. (intensifier, colloquial) any, damn, faintest
    Nemam blage ideje o čemu pričaš! ― I don't have any idea what you're talking about.

Declension

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positive indefinite forms
singular masculine feminine neuter
nominative blag blaga blago
genitive blaga blage blaga
dative blagu blagoj blagu
accusative inanimate
animate 		blag
blaga 		blagu blago
vocative blag blaga blago
locative blagu blagoj blagu
instrumental blagim blagom blagim
plural masculine feminine neuter
nominative blagi blage blaga
genitive blagih blagih blagih
dative blagim(a) blagim(a) blagim(a)
accusative blage blage blaga
vocative blagi blage blaga
locative blagim(a) blagim(a) blagim(a)
instrumental blagim(a) blagim(a) blagim(a)
positive definite forms
singular masculine feminine neuter
nominative blagi blaga blago
genitive blagog(a) blage blagog(a)
dative blagom(u/e) blagoj blagom(u/e)
accusative inanimate
animate 		blagi
blagog(a) 		blagu blago
vocative blagi blaga blago
locative blagom(e/u) blagoj blagom(e/u)
instrumental blagim blagom blagim
plural masculine feminine neuter
nominative blagi blage blaga
genitive blagih blagih blagih
dative blagim(a) blagim(a) blagim(a)
accusative blage blage blaga
vocative blagi blage blaga
locative blagim(a) blagim(a) blagim(a)
instrumental blagim(a) blagim(a) blagim(a)
comparative forms
singular masculine feminine neuter
nominative blaži blaža blaže
genitive blažeg(a) blaže blažeg(a)
dative blažem(u) blažoj blažem(u)
accusative inanimate
animate 		blaži
blažeg(a) 		blažu blaže
vocative blaži blaža blaže
locative blažem(u) blažoj blažem(u)
instrumental blažim blažom blažim
plural masculine feminine neuter
nominative blaži blaže blaža
genitive blažih blažih blažih
dative blažim(a) blažim(a) blažim(a)
accusative blaže blaže blaža
vocative blaži blaže blaža
locative blažim(a) blažim(a) blažim(a)
instrumental blažim(a) blažim(a) blažim(a)
superlative forms
singular masculine feminine neuter
nominative najblaži najblaža najblaže
genitive najblažeg(a) najblaže najblažeg(a)
dative najblažem(u) najblažoj najblažem(u)
accusative inanimate
animate 		najblaži
najblažeg(a) 		najblažu najblaže
vocative najblaži najblaža najblaže
locative najblažem(u) najblažoj najblažem(u)
instrumental najblažim najblažom najblažim
plural masculine feminine neuter
nominative najblaži najblaže najblaža
genitive najblažih najblažih najblažih
dative najblažim(a) najblažim(a) najblažim(a)
accusative najblaže najblaže najblaža
vocative najblaži najblaže najblaža
locative najblažim(a) najblažim(a) najblažim(a)
instrumental najblažim(a) najblažim(a) najblažim(a)

Derived terms

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Derived terms
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Further reading

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  • “blag”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2024

Slovene

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Etymology

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From Proto-Slavic *bolgъ.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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blȃg (comparative blážji or blȃžji, superlative nȁjblážji or nȁjblȃžji)

  1. mild, gentle, soft

Further reading

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  • “blag”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2024
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