stagn.¹

Brit.

/staɡ/, U.S.

/stæɡ/

Forms: α. ? Middle English accusative staggon, Middle English–1600s stagge, (Middle English staghe), 1500s–1700s stagg, Middle English– stag. β. Middle English–1600s stage; also (sense 2 only) 1500s northern staige, 1600s staeg, Middle English– Scottish staig.

Etymology: Probably representing Old English *stacga (stagga ) weak masculine; compare various other names of animals, docga dog, frocga frog, *picga pig, wicga beetle. The word seems to have meant properly a male animal in its prime; compare the various senses below and the cognate Old Norse steggi , stegg-r (Norwegian stegg ) male bird, modern Icelandic stegg-r tom-cat, formerly also male fox: see steg n.There is no ground for the current statement that stag is of Scandinavian origin, though some of the senses below may be due to confusion with steg n.

a. The male of a deer, esp. of the red deer; spec. a hart or male deer of the fifth year. (In the 15th cent. †stag of a hart.)

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > male > [noun] > in its fifth or sixth year

stag?c1185

second head1774

the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > types of deer > [noun] > genus Cervus > Cervus elaphus (red deer) > male

hartc825

stag?c1185

α.

?c1185 Pseudo-Cnut Constit. de Foresta xxiv, in Liebermann Gesetze der Ags. (1903) I. 624 (Stowe MS., late 16th c.) Regalem feram, quam Angli a staggon [Camb. MS. c. 1570 Astaggon, Harrison 1577 staggon] appellant.

14.. Chaucer's Sqr.'s T., heading of Part 11 MSS. Petworth & Corpus, The Stag of an hert.

a1425 Edward, Duke of York Master of Game (Digby) ii Þe first yere þat thei [harts] be calfede, þei be ycalle a calfe þe secund yere a bulloke..þe thred yere a broket, þe iiii. yere a stagard, þe v. yere a stagge, þe vi. yere an herte of .x.

1473 Rolls of Parl. VI. 98/2 Oure Graunte.., of a Tonne Wyne, and a Stagge of an Hert.

1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie xxii. 62 If you find together the footing of two stagges.

1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie lxxix. 235 An Hart is called the firste yeare a Calfe..the fourth a Staggerd, the fifth a Stagge, and..the sixth..an Hart.

1584 H. Llwyd & D. Powel Hist. Cambria 157 William Rufus was slaine by an Arrowe shot at a Stagge.

1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion xii. 206 Those fallow Deere, and huge-hancht Stags that graz'd Vpon her shaggy Heaths.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) Induct. ii. 47 Thy gray-hounds are as swift As breathed Stags: I fleeter then the Roe.

a1648 Ld. Herbert Life (1976) 45 Forrests and Chaces which were well stored with wilde bore and stagg.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vii. 469 The swift Stag from under ground Bore up his branching head.

1735 W. Somervile Chace i. 283 [The] stately Stag, that o'er the Woodland reigns.

1822 P. B. Shelley Hellas 27 The tiger leagues not with the stag at bay Against the hunter.

1863 C. Lyell Geol. Evid. Antiq. Man 23 Venison, or the flesh of the stag and roe, was more eaten.

1877 Encycl. Brit. VII. 23/2 The Red Deer or Stag..the largest of the British deer, is a native of the temperate regions of Europe and Northern Asia.

1908 Blackwood's Mag. July 105/2 A herd of fourteen reindeer was seen... The horns of the entire band—for the hinds carry them as well as the stags—were still in velvet.

β. 1546 in T. Stapleton Plumpton Corr. (1839) 250 I must..ride to Tankerslay..& se a showt at a stage, as my keper hath sent me wourd.c1550 Battle of Otterburn iii, in F. J. Child Eng. & Sc. Pop. Ballads (1889) III. vi. 295/1 Vpon Grene Lynton they lyghted dowyn, Styrande many a stage [rhyme crage].

b. figurative. Also in phrases †to go in stag: To go naked. †to make (a husband) a stag, to make to wear the stag's crest = to cuckold. (Obsolete.)

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > wearing clothing > nakedness or state of being unclothed > [verb (intransitive)]

to go in stag1591

nakedize1858

society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > fornication, adultery, or incest > [verb (transitive)] > defile by adultery > dishonour husband by adultery

byhorec1440

hornc1550

behorn1574

Actaeon1582

to make to wear the stag's crest1591

cornute1597

adhorn1605

hornify1607

tup1608

capricornify1611

cornify1611

cuckolda1616

Vulcan1624

wittol1624

branch1633

shoehorn1638

capricorn1665

cuckoldize1682

to liquor (a person's) bootsa1704

ram-head1713

1591 J. Florio Second Frutes 143 What dooth she make him weare the staggs crest then?

1602 T. Dekker Satiro-mastix sig. F3 No, come my little Cub, doe not scorne mee because I goe in Stag, in Buffe, heer's veluet too.

1612 B. Jonson Alchemist i. ii. sig. B4^v Dap. Yes, but I'ld ha' you Vse M^r. Doctor, with some more respect. Fac. Hang him proud Stagg, with his broad veluet head.

1659 T. Pecke Parnassi Puerperium 30 Paulina her first husband made a Stag.

1935 T. S. Eliot Murder in Cathedral i. 29 Cabined in Canterbury, realmless ruler, Self-bound servant of a powerless Pope, The old stag, circled with hounds.

c. In the names of various species of the genus Cervus. axis stag n. an Indian deer ( C. axis). Carolina Stag n. the North American Wapiti ( C. canadensis).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > types of deer > [noun] > genus Cervus > Cervus elaphus (red deer)

red deera1425

olen1591

wawaskeesh1716

wapiti1810

Carolina Stag1859

Roosevelt wapiti1897

Manchurian wapiti1898

Roosevelt elk1902

1859 J. G. Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. (new ed.) I. 693 The Wapiti or Carolina Stag.

1895 Outing Apr. 4/2 An axis stag glanced across the nala.

1896 R. Lydekker Brit. Mammals 242 Of the allied species, we may mention by name the..Thian Shan Stag (C. eustephanus), the Kashmir Stag (C. cashmirianus)..and the Lhasa Stag (C. thoroldi).

d. The flesh of the stag; venison. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > game > [noun] > flesh of deer

venisona1300

deer-flesha1400

stag1787

1787 A. C. Borrer Diaries & Corr. (1903) 71 He has given us twice Stag since I have been here.

e. The horn of the stag, as a material for handles of cutlery. Also attributive.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > setting table > table utensils > [noun] > cutlery > material for handles

stag1876

1876 Callis Cutlery (Brit. Manuf. Industr.) 173 Scales of wood and composition, pressed to imitate stag and buffalo, have been introduced for common goods.

†f. transferred. flying stag, the stag-beetle n. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1658 J. Rowland tr. T. Moffett Theater of Insects in Topsell's Hist. Four-footed Beasts (rev. ed.) 1005 The πλατύκερως, or Harts horn Beetle... Some call it the Bull, others the flying Stag... The French, Cerf volant; the English, Stag-fly, or Flying-fly.

2. northern and Scottish. A young horse, esp. one unbroken.

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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by gender or age > [noun] > foal > unbroken

stag1318

α.

1318 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1899) II. 373 Item sunt..2 stagges masculi, 1 pullanus masculus.

1346–7 in J. Raine Charters Priory Finchale (1837) p. xxvi Item unus staggus masculi unius anni.

1363 in J. Raine Charters Priory Finchale (1837) p. lxi ij staghes ætatis duorum annorum.

1439–40 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1899) II. 409 Item 1 equa cum 1 stag ij^or annorum.

1483 Cath. Angl. 358/1 A sstagge, pullus.

a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xxx. 410 Vnethes may I wag, man, For-wery in youre stabill Whils I set my stag, man.

1514 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1884) V. 60 To Thomas, my sone, a stagge to make hym an horrse off.

1522 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories N. Counties Eng. (1835) I. 106 To John Cowndon..a colt stagge.

1565 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories N. Counties Eng. (1835) I. 245 Item I gyue to thomas pereson my graye fillie stagg.

1684 G. Meriton Praise Yorks. Ale (1685) 105 A Stag is a young Colt.

1778 J. Mill Diary (1889) 55 [The losses of horses and cattle] were soon supplied by the purchase of three cows and two pretty young staggs.

1788 W. Marshall Provincialisms E. Yorks. in Rural Econ. Yorks. II. 355 Stag, a young horse.

β. 1478 in Acta Audit. (1839) 82/1 For a meire & a staig xl s.1540 in J. W. Clay North Country Wills (1908) I. i. 170 To Mathewe Hynde, xl s., a fely stage.1558 in J. Croft Excerpta Anat. (1797) 28 Item, a Bay Stoned Staige.a1585 A. Montgomerie Flyting with Polwart 395 Some [witches], on steid of a staig, ouer a starke monke straide.1617 in Extracts Rec. Convent. Burghs Scot. (1878) III. 47 Ilk ox, kow, horse, stote, meir, staeg.1654 in Extracts Rec. Convent. Burghs Scot. (1878) III. 388 Item, of ilk hors, meir or stage, going to the mercat, 1s.1792 R. Burns in J. Johnson Scots Musical Museum IV. 392 It's neither your stot nor your staig I shall crave..But gie me your wife, man.1812 T. Chalmers Let. in W. Hanna Mem. T. Chalmers (1851) I. 309 The staigs were returned to the glebe.Proverbs.1857 J. Miller Alcohol (1858) 123 Keep strong drink from the lad and the boy, ‘Corn is not for staigs’.1899 J. Spence Shetland Folk-lore 228 There's aye watter whaar the staig smores.

3. An animal castrated when full grown.

a. A bull; more fully bull stag. Now dialect, Scottish and Australian.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > male > [noun]

hartc825

doe-buck?a1500

olen1591

stag1680

the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > bull > [noun] > castrated or bullock > castrated late in life

stag1680

α.

1680 London Gaz. No. 1482/4 One red Bull Stag with the same Mark.

1777 Ann. Reg. 1776 149/1 Good ox beef, instead of which he had substituted bull beef and bull stag beef.

1787 G. Winter New Syst. Husbandry 284 A dairyman's six heavy bull stags..broke over a well secured fence into my field of wheat.

1884 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Old Melbourne Mem. xvii. 123 I just recollect that blue stag... Was he in the mob you saw?

1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. Stag,..2. A castrated bull. The term is applied to any animal emasculated after maturity.

1894 Harper's Mag. Feb. 354 They require work-steers to do their ploughing and Mr. Bell has brought up half a dozen old ‘stags’.

β. 1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian ii, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. II. 44 He returned..muttering that he thought he heard the ‘young staig loose in the byre’.1821 W. Scott Pirate III. iii. 56 The air and bearing of a bull-dog, whilk I have seen loosed at a fair upon a mad staig.1856 J. C. Morton Cycl. Agric. (new ed.) II. (Gloss.) 726/1 Stag,..In Scot., Staig. Bull-staig is a castrated bull.

b. A boar, hog, or ram. dialect.

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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > order Artiodactyla (cloven-hoofed animals) > [noun] > group Suiformes (hippos and pigs) > family Suidae (swine) > male

boarc1000

stag1784

the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > order Artiodactyla (cloven-hoofed animals) > pig > [noun] > male > castrated or hog

barrowc950

hogOE

swine hog1381

barrow-pig1547

stag1784

mudlark1785

the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > genus Ovus > [noun] > Ovus Aries (domestic sheep) > male > castrated or wether

wetherc890

wether sheep13..

muttonc1450

stag1784

hamel1835

wedder1866

1784 [see stag-hog n. at Compounds 1b(a)].

1811 T. Davis Gen. View Agric. Wilts. (new ed.) 260 Boar stag, a castrated boar.

1851 T. Sternberg Dial. & Folk-lore Northants. Stag, an old boar.

1863 W. Barnes Gram. & Gloss. Dorset Dial. Stag, a castrated male animal; as, a ram-stag, a boar-stag, a bull-stag.

4. Applied to the male of various birds. (Cf. steg n.)

a. A cock. dialect. Also spec. in Cock-fighting, a cock less than one year old.

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the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Phasianidae (pheasants, etc.) > hen or cock > [noun] > cock

cockeOE

chanticleer?a1300

common astrologera1413

dunghill cock1561

red cock1591

cock-a-doodle-doo1604

roost-cock1606

alectryon1664

stag1730

rooster1772

doodle-doo1785

cock bird1788

the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Phasianidae (pheasants, etc.) > hen or cock > [noun] > cock > fighting cock > young

stag1730

1730 J. Cheny Hist. List Horse-matches 168 Each side shew'd some Cocks and some Staggs.

1758 [see stag-match n. at Compounds 2a].

1770 Newcastle Chron. Advt. To be fought for..on the 31st of December, Fifty pounds by cocks and stags, 3lbs. 14oz.

1815 Sporting Mag. 46 59 The practice of running stags with cocks is unavoidable.

1823 ‘J. Bee’ Slang (at cited word) A young game cock—is a stag.

1886 Live Stock Jrnl. 23 July 99/1 [Letter from Devonshire] Many people who keep hens for their eggs alone do not allow a stag with them.

1894 S. Baring-Gould Kitty Alone I. 96 Bramber learned that day that a cock in Devonshire is entitled stag.

1902 Lindsey & Lincs. Star 29 Nov. 5/2 Fowl stealing... In one case a fine buff Orpington stag has been taken.

b. A turkey-cock of two years and upwards.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > [noun] > member of Meleagrididae (turkey) > male

cock of India1546

brissel-cockc1565

guinea-cock1577

turkey-cock1578

gobbler1725

bubbly jock1785

staga1825

Tom1840

longbeard1974

a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Stag, a cock turkey, killed for the table in his second year.

1849 W. Raynbird & H. Raynbird On Agric. Suffolk vi. 300 Stag—a cock turkey killed for the table in his second year, by which time he often weighs 20 lbs. or more.

1850 D. J. Browne Amer. Poultry Yard 165 When a cock turkey arrives at the age of two years, he is called a ‘stag’.

†c. A young swan. Obsolete. (Cf. steg n. swan.)

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Anseriformes (geese, etc.) > subfamily Cyginae (swans) > [noun] > member of genus Cygnus (miscellaneous) > cygnus olor (common swan) > young

cygnetc1430

stag1544

swannetc1560

staggard1619

1544 Will of Roberte North (P.R.O.: PROB. 11/32) f. 84 My Swanne marke w^t all the Swannes Stagges & Signettes callid the crowfote.

5. dialect. The wren.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > non-arboreal (larks, etc.) > [noun] > family Troglodytidae > genus Troglodytes > species troglodytes (wren)

wrenc725

little kingc1450

Our Lady's hena1529

jenny wren1648

regulus1678

tope1813

staga1825

kitty1825

feather-poke1831

robin1837

robin redbreasta1873

jenny1881

St. Kilda wren1884

a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Stag, a wren.

1885 C. Swainson Provinc. Names Brit. Birds 35 Wren (Troglodytes parvulus), Stag, Tope (Norfolk; Cornwall).

1893 in H. T. Cozens-Hardy Broad Norfolk (Eastern Daily Press) 51 Stag, Common Wren.

6. dialect and colloquial. A big, romping girl; a bold woman.

ΚΠ

1684 G. Meriton York-shire Dial. 55 Nea, nea, great stags, what a durdum thou macks!

1790 F. Grose Provinc. Gloss. (ed. 2) Stag,..a romping girl.

1877 F. Ross et al. Gloss. Words Holderness 135/2 Stag,..a rude, romping girl.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 411 The likes of her! Stag that one is. Stubborn as a mule!

1922 D. H. Lawrence Aaron's Rod (N.Y. ed.) iii. 33 She too was a tall stag of a thing.

7. slang. [Probably < sense 1; but the reason for the use is obscure.]

a. An informer; esp. in phrase to turn stag. Also see quot. 1725.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > information > informing on or against > [noun] > informer

wrayerc1000

wrobberc1300

discoverera1400

denunciator1474

informer1503

denouncer1533

detector1541

delatora1572

sycophant1579

inquisitor1580

scout1585

finger man1596

emphanista1631

quadruplator1632

informant1645

eastee-man1681

whiddler1699

runner1724

stag1725

snitch1785

qui tam1788

squeak1795

split1819

clype1825

telegraph1825

snitcher1827

Jack Nasty1837

pigeon1847

booker1863

squealer1865

pig1874

rounder1884

sneak1886

mouse1890

finger1899

fizgig1902

screamer1902

squeaker1903

canary1912

shopper1924

narker1932

snurge1933

cheese eater1935

singer1935

tip-off1941

top-off1941

tout1959

rat fink1961

whistle-blower1970

1725 New Canting Dict. Stag,..as, I spy a Stag, used by..Shepherd, lately executed, when he first saw the Turnkey of Newgate, who pursu'd and took him.

1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Stag, to turn stag, a rogue who impeaches his confederates.

a1826 J. Holt Mem. (1838) II. 52 We had two disturbers of the harmony of the ship; I mean two stags or informers.

1834 W. H. Ainsworth Rookwood I. i. viii. 217 As to clapping him in quod, he might prattle—might turn stag.

a1849 J. Keegan Legends & Poems (1907) 367 My father..became a deserter, but he was not a coward, nor a traitor, nor a stag.

b. (See quots.)

ΘΚΠ

society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > specific offences > [noun] > perjury > perjurer

manswareOE

false swearerc1380

mansworna1400

forswearer1413

perjurera1500

perjured1526

perjurea1540

post-knight1576

knight of the post1580

perjurator1689

mounter1781

stag1823

straw-shoe1826

subornee1890

perjuress1898

1823 ‘J. Bee’ Slang s.v. Queer bail are ‘stag’: those men who being hired at a guinea or two per oath, to swear they are worth vast sums, stand about judges' chambers in term-time.

1848 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (at cited word) In the New York courts, a stag is the technical name for a man who is always ready to aid in proving an alibi, of course ‘for a consideration’.

c. (See quot. 1857.)

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > English coins > [noun] > shilling

s.1387

solidus?a1475

shilling1533

teston1543

twelvepence1563

bord1567

twelvepenny piece1594

sh.1607

hog1673

twelver1699

she-lion1744

grunter1785

twalpenny worth1786

bob1789

pega1790

tower shilling1800

little shilling1826

deaner1839

rogue and villain1857

stag1857

hole1934

1857 ‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue 20 Stag, shilling.

1887 W. E. Henley Villon's Straight Tip 15 You cannot bank a single stag.

d. A spell of duty. (See also quot. 1881.)

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > work > times or periods of work > [noun] > spell of work or duty

trick1669

time1696

stem1778

turn1793

tour of duty1800

spell1804

shift1809

steek1889

go-in1890

steek1895

stag1931

wink1937

1881 S. Evans Evans's Leicestershire Words (new ed.) 255 A ‘stag’ is also one set to watch while his fellows are engaged in anything in which they wish not to be caught.

1931 J. Brophy & E. Partridge Songs & Slang Brit. Soldier: 1914–1918 (ed. 3) 361 Stag, sentry-go.

1959 R. Storey Touch it Light in Plays of Year XVIII. 341 There's seven stags in the hours o' darkness and only five of you to do 'em. Somebody has to do two.

1975 A. Beevor Violent Brink iv. 97 The films would be handed in for processing when they were relieved at the end of their two hour ‘stag’.

e. elliptical for stag-dinner n., stag-party n. at Compounds 1c, etc. ( Compounds 1c). North American.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > meal > feast > [noun] > feasts for other occasions

plough feast1355

king ale1472

natal1484

primifeste1551

mayor's feast1578

sheep-shearing feast1586

sheep-shearing1611

christening1617

bean-feast1805

updrinking1819

Thanksgiving dinner1830

bump supper1845

potlatch1858

stag1904

rehearsal dinner1906

society > leisure > social event > social gathering > party > [noun] > party for men only

stag-party1856

bachelor party1902

stag1971

1904 Brooklyn Daily Eagle 28 May 3 The Myrtle Fishing Club will have a stag at Hurman Hub's Park this evening.

1947 Chicago Tribune 19 Oct. (Comic Suppl.) 6 The marchin' and chowder club's throwin' a stag tonight.

1971 ‘R. Lewis’ Fenokee Project viii. 148 He's getting married tomorrow. Tonight he's holding his stag, and most of the men from the dam are going along.

f. U.S. A man who attends a social function without a female partner. Also quasi-adv. in to go stag.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > social event > [noun] > participant > unattached man or men

stag1905

stag line1934

1905 N. Davis Northerner 213 ‘No man not escorting a lady’—a stag, you know—could go upon the floor.

1905 Dial. Notes 3 21 Are you going to the dance stag?

1924 P. Marks Plastic Age xix. 210 True, he was not ‘dragging a woman’, but several of the brothers were going ‘stag’; so he felt completely at ease.

1926 Ladies' Home Jrnl. July 117 Too many girls failed to get paired; too many boys went stag and saved cab hire.

1928 Daily Express 14 Dec. 19 A needy or avaricious ‘stag’—as male dancers are called in the United States.

1948 This Week Mag. 1 May 16/3 The sign read: ‘No Stags Allowed’.

1979 R. Jaffe Class Reunion (1980) i. viii. 117 A lot of boys went to the parties stag. Social life was easy for them, not the way it was for girls, who had to wait..until someone called.

1980 R. L. Duncan Brimstone iii. 59 They're not going to let you in by yourself. They have a rule against stags.

8. Commerce slang.

a. A person who applies for an allocation of shares in a joint-stock concern solely with a view to selling immediately at a profit.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [noun] > dealer in stocks and shares > type of

profit taker1552

bull1714

bear1718

fund-monger1734

lame duck1806

stag1845

taker-in1852

cornerer1869

wrecker1876

corner-man1881

market-rigger1881

boursocrat1882

offeror1882

ribbon clerk1882

inflater1884

manipulator1888

underwriter1889

kangaroo1896

piker1898

share pusher1898

specialist1900

tailer1900

writer1906

placee1953

corporate raider1955

tippee1961

raider1972

bottom fisher1974

white knight1978

greenmailer1984

1845 W. M. Thackeray in Punch 9 191 All the Stags in Capel Court.

1846 Punch 10 139 The bubble has in the mean time burst, the deposit is not paid, and the Stag..gives himself no more trouble about the scheme.

1857 S. Smiles Life G. Stephenson xxx. 408 Noble lords were pointed at as ‘stags’..in the share markets.

1904 Westm. Gaz. 13 Apr. 9/1 Another point in the prospectus is the attempt to discriminate between the stag and the bona-fide investor.

b. (See quot. 1854.)

ΚΠ

1854 H. Ayres Fenn's Eng. & Foreign Funds 109 A Stag is one who is not a Member of the Stock Exchange, but deals outside, and is sometimes called an ‘Outsider’.

Compounds

C1. attributive and in other combinations.

a. Similative, as stag-eyed, stag-necked, stag-sure adjs.

ΚΠ

1793 T. Holcroft tr. J. C. Lavater Ess. Physiognomy (abridged ed.) xl. 213 The stag-necked horse.

1826 T. Hood Stag-eyed Lady 42 Therefore he chose a lady for his love, Singling from out the herd one stag-eyed dear.

1896 N. Munro Lost Pibroch 69 Girls..not with a flat slouching foot on the soil, but high in the instep, bounding and stag-sure.

b. quasi-adj.

(a) = male.

stag-bird n.

ΚΠ

1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. at Stag When applied to poultry stag-bird is the usual term for a male kept for breeding purposes.

stag harte-beest n.

ΚΠ

1850 R. Gordon-Cumming Five Years Hunter's Life S. Afr. I. ix. 188 He had observed an old stag hartebeest standing in the shade of some tall green bushes.

stag-hog n.

ΚΠ

1784 H. Mure in Ann. Agric. 1 124 In a third stye, two stag-hogs that would rise to 20 or 25 stone.

stag-moose n.

ΚΠ

1722 P. Dudley Moose-deer in Philos. Trans. 1720–21 (Royal Soc.) 31 166 Our Hunters have found a Buck, or Stagg-Moose, of fourteen Spans in heighth from the Withers.

stag-swan n.

stag-turkey n.

ΚΠ

1892 Ld. Tennyson Churchwarden & Curate vii An' 'e torn'd as red as a stag-turkey's wattles.

(b) (In sense 2.)

stag-bay n.

ΚΠ

1606 in Quarter Sessions Rec. (N. Riding Rec. Soc.) (1884) I. 55 Unum equum testiculatum, anglice a stoned stagg bay.

stag-foal n.

ΚΠ

1883 R. M. Fergusson Rambling Sketches xv. 97 May a' your mares be well to foal, An' every ane be a staig foal.

stag-horse n.

ΚΠ

1857 G. Borrow Romany Rye I. xi. 166 I..goes into a field, suppose by night, where there is a very fine stag horse.

c. slang (originally U.S.) = pertaining to or composed of males only; frequently applied spec. to a celebration held on the eve of a man's marriage. Cf. hen party n.

stag-dance n.

ΚΠ

1848 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms Stag-Dance, a dance performed by males only, in bar-rooms, &c.

1873 J. Miller Life amongst Modocs viii. 94 In one of the saloons..men were wont to..have stag-dances.

stag devilry n.

ΚΠ

1911 H. S. Harrison Queed xv. 185 Buck Klinker, returning from some stag devilry at the hour of two a.m.

stag-dinner n.

ΚΠ

1884 H. G. Carleton Thompson St. Poker Club 35 Mr. Tooter Williams had been to a stag dinner in the early evening.

stag-night n.

ΚΠ

1965 Listener 9 Sept. 373/2 On ‘stag nights’ it [sc. the entertainment] is pretty blue.

1973 in E. Dunphy Only a Game? (1976) iv. 110 We went out this evening for his stag night.

stag-party n.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > social event > social gathering > party > [noun] > party for men only

stag-party1856

bachelor party1902

stag1971

1856 Knickerbocker Mag. Apr. 407 in R. H. Thornton Amer. Gloss. (1912) A party of old bricks [read bucks], who, under pretence of looking at the picture, are keeping up a small stag-party at the end of the room.

1923 ‘Bartimeus’ Seaways xii. 234 We don't want any women. We'll just have a stag party and talk Service shop and play pool afterwards.

1978 J. Wainwright Thief of Time 83 I know people... Class strippers. Stag-party hostesses. There's a real market.

C2.

a. Special combinations.

stag-book n. Commerce slang a book in which was entered the names of the stags or bogus shareholders (see 8).

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [noun] > book recording names of stags

stag-book1854

1854 Househ. Words 8 470 You allotted to a great many stags, sir... Didn't you have any stag-books when you allotted?

stag-cart n. = deer-cart n. at deer n. Compounds 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > hunting > equipment > [noun] > deer-cart

deer-cart1840

stag-cart1894

society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > cart or wagon for conveying goods > [noun] > types of > wagon or cart for specific articles > for stag or deer to the hunt

deer-cart1840

stag-cart1894

1894 Daily News 8 Feb. 2/6 A stag-cart of the Mid-Kent staghounds.

† stag-chase n. Obsolete = stag-hunting n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > hunting > hunting specific animals > [noun] > deer

roe huntc1381

roe hunting1486

buck-hunting1664

stag-hunting1722

stag-chase1725

deer-stalking1816

stag-hunt1842

roe stalking1850

1725 in Hist. MSS Comm.: Rep. MSS Duke of Portland (1901) VI. 87 in Parl. Papers (Cd. 676) XXXVI. i. 1 This [park] the Duke designed as the chief nursery for his stag-chase.

stag-evil n. (see quots.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of visible parts > [noun] > swelling of face > disease of jaw

stag-evil1696

the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > convulsive or paralytic disorders > [noun] > palsy or paralysis > paralysis of other parts

stag-evil1696

histrionic paralysis1853

glossoplegia1854

spinal shock1898

the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of horses > [noun] > other disorders of horses

trench?a1450

colt-evilc1460

affreyd?1523

cholera1566

crick1566

incording1566

leprosy1566

taint1566

eyesore1576

fistula1576

wrench1578

birth1600

garrot1600

stithy1600

stifling1601

stranglings1601

hungry evil1607

pose1607

crest-fall1609

pompardy1627

felteric1639

quick-scab1639

shingles1639

clap1684

sudden taking1688

bunches1706

flanks1706

strangles1706

chest-founderingc1720

body-founder1737

influenza1792

foundering1802

horse-sickness1822

stag-evil1823

strangullion1830

shivering1847

dourine1864

swamp fever1870

African horse sickness1874

horse-pox1884

African horse disease1888

wind-stroke1890

thump1891

leucoencephalitis1909

western equine encephalitis1933

stachybotryotoxicosis1945

rhinopneumonitis1957

1696 W. Hope tr. J. de Solleysel Compl. Horseman ii. xxxvii. 56 (heading) Of the Stag's Evil, or Palsie in the Jaw.

1759 T. Wallis Farrier's & Horseman's Compl. Dict. at Convulsions Solleysell calls this malady the stag's evil, or palsy in the jaws.

1823 J. Pursglove Pract. Farriery 81 In convulsions, or stag evil, the horse appears full of spirit.

stag-fever n. (see quot.).

ΚΠ

1911 B. Holland Life 8th Duke of Devonshire ii. xxiv. 237 He is said to have suffered at critical moments of the sport from the excitement known as stag fever.

stag film n. originally U.S. a pornographic film made for a male audience.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > a film > type of film > [noun] > pornographic film

stag movie1960

pornie1965

skin-flick1965

stag film1968

porno1971

hard R1974

1968 Wall St. Jrnl. 11 Sept. 18/1 Pornography is not one of the nation's truly burning issues, and showing stag films is not our idea of how to run the world's greatest deliberative body.

1977 Gay News 7 Apr. 23/2 She..made these very tame, anodyne stag films that she's always denying.

† stag-fly n. Obsolete the stag-beetle.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Coleoptera or beetles and weevils > [noun] > Polyphaga (omnivorous) > superfamily Lamellicornia Scarabaeoidea > family Lucanidae (stag-beetles) > member of genus Lucanus (stag-beetle)

bull-fly1585

hornet1585

stag-fly1634

hartshorn beetle1658

flying hart1676

stag-beetle1681

flying stag1765

pinching bug1850

pinch bug1856

1634 T. T. de Mayerne et al. Moffett's Insectorum Theatrum (new ed.) i. xxi. 134 Anglis Stag-flie, vel Flying-flie.

1693 S. Dale Pharmacologia 538 Scarabæus cornutus, Schrod... The Stag-fly.

stag-hafted adj.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > cutting tool > knife > [adjective] > having handle made of horn

stag-hafted1797

buck-hafted1815

1797 J. Robinson Directory of Sheffield 45 Stag hafted penknife cutler.

stag-handled adj. furnished with a haft or handle of stag-horn.

stag-hog n. = babirusa n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > order Artiodactyla (cloven-hoofed animals) > [noun] > group Suiformes (hippos and pigs) > family Suidae (swine) > genus Babiroussa (babirussa)

babirusa1673

Indian hog1754

hog deer1798

stag-hog1827

pig deer1869

1827 E. Griffith et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom III. 332 The Babiroussa, or Stag Hog.

stag-hunt n. the chasing of a stag as a sport.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > hunting > hunting specific animals > [noun] > deer

roe huntc1381

roe hunting1486

buck-hunting1664

stag-hunting1722

stag-chase1725

deer-stalking1816

stag-hunt1842

roe stalking1850

1842 S. Lover Handy Andy lii There was a stag-hunt on the lake.

1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xx. 401 Without exposing himself to any risk greater than that of a staghunt at Fontainebleau.

stag-hunter n. one who hunts the stag; also, a horse used in stag-hunting.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by purpose used for > [noun] > used in hunting > for hunting particular type animal

stag-hunter1709

runner1810

pigsticker1900

1709 London Gaz. No. 4540/8 Stoln or strayed.., a..Bay Gelding,..hath been a known and constant Stag-Hunter in the Forest of Sherwood for 2 or 3 Years past.

stag-hunting n. the sport of chasing the stag; an instance of this.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > hunting > hunting specific animals > [noun] > deer

roe huntc1381

roe hunting1486

buck-hunting1664

stag-hunting1722

stag-chase1725

deer-stalking1816

stag-hunt1842

roe stalking1850

1722 London Gaz. No. 6112/1 There was a general Stag hunting.

1845 W. Youatt Dog iii. 86 Since the death of George III..stag-hunting has rapidly declined.

stag-like adj. resembling a stag or that of a stag.

ΚΠ

1627 T. May tr. Lucan Pharsalia (new ed.) ii. D 1 b Along the hauens stagge-like Hornes they runne Swiftly to shore.

1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Leila i. i. 4 The small erect head and stag-like throat.

stag line n. U.S. the group of unattached young men at a social function.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > social event > [noun] > participant > unattached man or men

stag1905

stag line1934

1934 J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra i. 16 She would get twice around the dance floor with the same partner, then someone would step out of the stag line and cut in.

1977 G. V. Higgins Dreamland v. 47 As a member of Porcellian I had been invited to the stag line at a gathering on Beacon Hill.

† stag-match n. Cock-fighting Obsolete a match for young cocks (see 4a).

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting or baiting animals > fighting between animals > [noun] > cock-fighting > types of fight

Welsh main1744

bye1754

stag-match1758

1758 London Chron. 29 June 614/2 The Stag Match between Sir Henry Grey, Bart., and Jennison Shafto, Esq.

stag movie n. originally U.S. = stag film n. above.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > a film > type of film > [noun] > pornographic film

stag movie1960

pornie1965

skin-flick1965

stag film1968

porno1971

hard R1974

1960 Christian Herald July 14/2 Teen-agers bought ‘stag movies’ for as much as $50 a reel.

1971 Ink 12 June 3/1 What he found was a hundred men having their mid-shift tea break and enjoying a stag movie.

† stag-skin n. Obsolete the prepared hide of a stag.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > skin or hide > [noun] > deer-skin

deerskin1396

buckskin1433

fawn-skin1553

stag-skin1657

1657 G. Thornley tr. Longus Daphnis & Chloe (1893) 60 She gave him a new Scrip of Stag-skin.

† stag-snake n. Obsolete = Elaps n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > reptiles > order Squamata (lizards and snakes) > suborder Ophidia (snakes) > types of snake > [noun] > family Elapidae or Najidae > member of genus Elaps

stag-snake1668

bead-snake1737

coral-snake1758

coral-serpent1774

garter-snake1775

nachtslang1821

death adder1833

coral1852

1668 W. Charleton Onomasticon Zoicon 32 Elaps..the Stag-Snake.

† stag-worm n. Obsolete (see quot.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > division Vermes > [noun] > member of (worm) > parasitic or harmful > to animals

sting-worm1577

felter1607

needle-worma1750

stag-worm1753

heartworm1877

1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Stag-worms,..a name given to a species of worms produced of the eggs of a fly, and lodged..behind, and under the palate of the stag.

b. In the names of plants.

stag bush n. (see quot.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > shrubs > viburnums or guelder rose and allies > [noun]

bendwithc1440

opier1548

opulus1548

ople1551

dwarf plane tree1578

water elder1578

whitten1578

guelder rose1597

rose elder1597

wayfaring man's tree1597

wayfaring tree1597

opiet1601

cotton tree1633

viorne1637

mealy tree1640

laurustinus1664

stinking tree1681

black haw1688

laurel-thyme1693

laurustine1693

viburnum1731

wayfaring shrub1731

May rose1753

pembina1760

snowball tree1760

mealtree1785

stink-tree1795

cherry-wood1821

snowball1828

sloe1846

withe-rod1846

lithy-tree1866

nannyberry1867

king's crown1879

stag bush1884

snowball bush1931

1884 C. S. Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. 94 Viburnum prunifolium..Black Haw. Stag Bush.

stag fern n. = staghorn fern (see stag-horn n. 2c).

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > ferns > [noun] > other ferns

mountain parsley1578

female fern1597

rock parsley1597

spleenwort1597

marsh fern1686

prickly fern1764

parsley fern1777

sensitive fern1780

lady fern1783

stone-brake1796

mountain fern1800

rock brake1802

walking leaf1811

todea1813

shield-fern1814

Woodsia1815

mangemange1817

cinnamon fern1818

climbing fern1818

bladder-fern1828

king fern1829

filmy fern1830

ostrich fern1833

New York fern1843

mokimoki1844

rhizocarp1852

film-fern1855

nardoo1860

gymnogram1861

holly-fern1861

limestone-polypody1861

elk-horn1865

Gleichenia1865

lizard's herb1866

cliff brake1867

kidney fern1867

Christmas fern1873

Prince of Wales feathers1873

Christmas shield fern1878

buckler-fern1882

crape-fern1882

stag-horn1882

ladder fern1884

oleander fern1884

stag fern1884

resam1889

lip-fern1890

coral-fern1898

bamboo fern1930

pteroid1949

fern-gale-

1884 Chron. London Missionary Soc. Apr. 102 Huge stag ferns or fantastic shapes.

† stag's garlic n. Obsolete (see garlic n. 1b).

Draft additions June 2016

stag do n. (a) (North American) a social event attended only by men (now rare); (b) (originally and chiefly British) a celebration for a man who is about to get married, attended by his male friends and relations, and often characterized by heavy drinking and bawdy entertainment.

ΚΠ

1915 Bakersfield Californian 23 Sept. 1/2 A reception is called in college parlance a ‘Do’. When it is held by boys, it becomes a ‘Stag-Do’.

1961 G. Ross Television Jubilee v. 103 It was decided to try out the idea of informality on television, though necessarily with different material from that used for stag do's at the Friar's Club!

1992 D. McLean Bucket of Tongues (1994) 90 Surely this was one of the Great Scottish Traditions, that the groom should be half-pished and three-quarters hungover from his stag do right through the ceremony and the reception.

2003 Empire May 56/1 After his stag do, Paul is horrified when he awakes in bed with dancer Becky.

Draft additions June 2016

stag weekend n. (a) (North American) a social event taking place over a weekend and attended only by men; (b) (originally and chiefly British) a celebration organized for a man who is about to get married, attended by his male friends and relations, and taking place over the course of a weekend.

ΚΠ

1907 Lumber World 1 June 51/2 Fred..invited a few of his friends to a stag week-end fishing party.

1941 Motor Boating Jan. 64/2 Except on an occasional stag weekend,..a galley..[is an] important..adjunct to comfortable cruising.

1981 Colorado Springs Gaz. Tel. 18 Oct. 3 f/2 Bob had turned this trip into a stag weekend in which the eight of us cooked up a storm..[and] drank a good deal.

1988 R. Harty Grand Tour ii. 37 They were off to Ostend for a stag weekend. The prospective groom was accompanied by his father.

2005 GQ Oct. 396 (advt.) From unique activities like..cliff-jumping to the standard strippers,..Chillisauce offers everything you need for an unforgettable stag weekend.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1915; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

stagv.³

Brit.

/staɡ/, U.S.

/stæɡ/

Etymology: < stag n.¹

1. slang.

a. transitive. To observe; to take particular notice of; to watch; also, to find out or discover by observation, to detect. Also absol. or intransitive.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > find out, discover [verb (transitive)]

seeOE

fanda1000

finda1200

kenc1330

lenda1350

agropea1393

contrive1393

to find outc1405

outsearch?a1439

ripec1440

inventc1475

disclose?a1500

fish1531

agnize?1570

discover1585

to grope out1590

out-find1590

expiscate1598

vent1611

to learn out1629

to get to know1643

develop1653

ascertain1794

stag1796

root1866

to get a line on1903

establish1919

the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (intransitive)] > observe or watch

spya1400

wait1399

espyc1405

watch1487

gate?1590

to look sharp1680

stag1796

to keep one's eyes peeled1844

to skin one's eyes1851

to peel one's eyes1875

to take sights1934

the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (transitive)] > watch or observe

keepc1000

overseeOE

waitc1300

advisec1325

awaita1375

to wait on ——c1384

markc1400

contemplec1429

to keep (also have) an (or one's) eye on (also upon)a1450

to look straitly to?c1450

to wait after ——c1460

vizy1488

contemplatea1533

vise1551

pry?1553

observe1567

eye1592

over-eye?1592

watch1600

outwatch1607

spell1633

superintend1654

under-watch1654

tent1721

evigilate1727

twig1764

stag1796

eye-serve1800

spy1806

deek1825

screw1905

clock1911

1796 Grose's Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue (ed. 3) To Stag, to find, discover, observe.

1806 T. S. Surr Winter in London II. v. 120 I shall soon stag who they are.

1823 ‘J. Bee’ Slang (at cited word) To ‘stag’ a thief, to look on, and spoil his sport: ‘What's that cove a stagging there for? Down him, Billy’.

1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants. Words II. 289 When workmen are taking beer clandestinely, one of them keeps on the look out, to watch or ‘stag the master’.

1859 H. Kingsley Recoll. G. Hamlyn v So you've been stagging this gentleman and me, and listening, have you?

1897 G. Bartram People of Clopton v. 130 Who set ye on to watch me?.. And at last..he admitted that Master John had told him to keep an eye on me and Jenny—to ‘stag’ us if he saw us out together—and to get a witness to what went on between us.

b. (See quots.)

ΚΠ

1811 Sporting Mag. 37 11 ‘I stagged him my Lord’.—‘Stagged him, what do you mean by stagged him?’—‘Why, my Lord, I mean I was down upon him’.

1870 Daily News 13 July In the event of a man refusing or sloping, as it was termed, his line was what was called ‘stagged’, and when he went for an advance it was resolutely refused.

c. intransitive. To turn informer; to inform against.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > information > informing on or against > inform on or against [verb (intransitive)]

inform1588

peach1598

whistle1599

sing1612

whiddlec1661

squeak1690

wheedle1710

whittle1735

to blow the gab1785

snitch1801

rat1810

nose1811

sing1816

gnarl1819

split1819

stag1839

clype1843

squeal1846

blow1848

to round on1857

nark1859

pimp1865

squawk1872

ruck1884

to come or turn copper1891

copper1897

sneak1897

cough1901

stool1911

tattle-tale1918

snout1923

talk1924

fink1925

scream1925

sarbut1928

grass1929

to turn over1967

dime1970

1839 W. Carleton Fardorougha (1848) xi. 161 But to stag against his companion and accomplice—this was looked upon as a crime.

a1849 J. Keegan Legends & Poems (1907) 380 She imagines that I played foul at New Ross,—that I stagged and betrayed as well as deserted.

d. (See quot. 1860.)

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > poverty > mendicancy > beg or be beggar [verb (intransitive)]

thigc1300

begc1384

crave1393

to go a-begged1393

prowl1530

to go (or have been) a begging1535

maund?1536

to bear the wallet1546

cant1567

prog1579

to turn to bag and wallet1582

skelder1602

maunder1611

strike1618

emendicate1623

mendicate1623

to go a-gooding1646

mump1685

shool1736

cadge1819

to stand pad1841

stag1860

bum1870

schnorr1875

panhandle1894

pling1915

stem1924

nickel-and-dime1942

1860 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang (ed. 2) Stag, to demand money, to ‘cadge’... Also, to dun, or demand payment.

2. Commerce slang.

a. To deal in shares as a stag (see stag n.¹ 8).

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > deal in stocks and shares [verb (intransitive)] > specific operations

soften1565

to get out1728

bear1837

to rig the (stock) market1841

stag1845

cornera1860

to straddle the market1870

raid1889

to make a market1899

to job backwards1907

to mark to (the) market1925

short1959

daisy-chain1979

to pitch for ——1983

1845 W. M. Thackeray in Punch 9 191 What! are ladies stagging it?

1845 [see stagging adj. at Derivatives]. 1905 [see stagging n. at Derivatives].

b. transitive. To deal in (shares) as a stag.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > deal in stocks and shares [verb (transitive)] > specific operations

subscribe1618

to take up1655

to sell out1721

to take in1721

to take up1740

pool?1780

capitalize1797

put1814

feed1818

to vote (the) stock (or shares)1819

corner1836

to sell short1852

promote1853

recapitalize1856

refund1857

float1865

water1865

margin1870

unload1870

acquire1877

maintain1881

syndicate1882

scalp1886

pyramid1888

underwrite1889

oversubscribe1891

joint-stock1894

wash1895

write1908

mark1911

split1927

marry1931

stag1935

unwind1958

short1959

preplace1966

unitize1970

bed and breakfast1974

index-link1974

warehouse1977

daisy-chain1979

strip1981

greenmail1984

pull1986

1935 Times 27 Nov. 19/2 The loan was heavily stagged, for the total applications exceeded £14,000,000.

1966 New Statesman 23 Sept. 456/3 The gilt-edged market has now improved to the point where the new issue of ICI loan stock seems likely to be stagged even more heavily than the last.

1981 Daily Tel. 20 July 15/2 The offer is likely to be subscribed although the opportunities for stagging the issue will be limited.

3. dialect. (See quot. 1854 Cf. stag-headed adj.)

ΚΠ

1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants. Words II. 289 Stag, to take off the top of a hedge without laying it down.

4. intransitive. To go to or attend a social occasion unaccompanied. Also const. it. U.S. slang.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > social event > [verb (intransitive)] > participate in social events > as unaccompanied male

stag1900

1900 Dial. Notes 2 64 To stag it, to go to a party without escorting a lady.

1941 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 10 May 74/3 If you won't go with me to the picnic, I'll stag.

1973 Lebende Sprachen 18 38/1 He had planned to stag at the class dance.

5. transitive. To cut (trousers or other articles of clothing) off short. Also with off. North American.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > tailor or make clothes [verb (transitive)] > other

fur13..

buttonc1380

lashc1440

pointa1470

set1530

tuft1535

vent1547

ruff1548

spangle1548

string1548

superbody1552

to pull out1553

quilt1555

flute1578

seam1590

seed1604

overtrim1622

ruffle1625

tag1627

furbelow1701

tuck1709

flounce1711

pipe1841

skirt1848

ruche1855

pouch1897

panel1901

stag1902

create1908

pin-fit1926

ease1932

pre-board1940

post-board1963

1902 [see stagged adj. at Derivatives].

1905 Terms Forestry & Logging (Bull. U.S. Dept. Agric., Bureau Forestry, No. 61) 49 Stag, to cut off trousers at the knee, or boots at the ankle.

1942 L. D. Rich We took to Woods vii. 188 One stags one's pants, one's shirt sleeves, anything that needs to be abbreviated quickly, even one's hair.

1953 R. Moon This is Saskatchewan 215 They [sc. the lumberjacks] wore pants stagged off or rolled half way to the knee so as not to be confused with mere city dwellers.

1972 Islander (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 30 Apr. 16/1 He was always dressed in the same way..heavy..underwear, tin pants stagged to the proper working length.

Derivatives

stagged adj. (of trousers) cut off short; also with off.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for legs > clothing for legs and lower body > [adjective] > trousers > types of

un-codpieced1580

canioned1607

braceless1859

bell-bottom1882

broad-beamed1883

kneed1887

bell-bottomed1891

fall-front1899

stagged1902

pegged1905

pedal pusher1912

pipestem1915

drainpipe1930

chino1943

anti-g1945

low-rise1948

cuffless1957

low-riding1958

hip-hugging1968

plus twos1977

1902 S. E. White Blazed Trail xxvii. 190 A gigantic young riverman in the conventional stagged (i.e. chopped off) trousers.

1933 E. Hemingway Winner take Nothing 29 He wore stagged trousers and lumbermen's rubbers and a mackinaw shirt.

1956 H. S. M. Kemp Northern Trader 114 He had the mackinaw shirt and stagged-off pants, [etc.].

ˈstagging n. North American

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [noun] > specific operations or arrangements > share-buying activities

subscribing1762

flyer1846

bearing1849

stagging1851

take-up1865

bear covering1881

straddle1883

portfolio investment1929

short covering1930

support buying1932

foreign portfolio investment1951

corporate raiding1957

leveraged1957

tender offer1964

buy-in1968

management buyout1977

bought deal1981

greenmail1983

MBO1986

bimbo1991

1851 C. Kingsley Yeast ii The Stock-Exchange and railway stagging,..and the frantic Mammon-hunting.

1905 A. I. Shand Days of Past ix. 162 Everything went automatically to a premium, and systematic stagging was a profitable business.

ˈstagging adj. North American

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [adjective] > types of dealer

stagging1845

short1849

weak1875

bearing1883

ursine1899

knifey1937

over-bullish1970

1845 W. M. Thackeray in Punch 9 191 Her appearance created quite a sensation among the stagging gents.

1905 Daily Chron. 13 July 5/6 A peculiarity of the applications is the enormous number of them for £100. A great many of these are obviously of the ‘stagging’ order.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1915; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	stag
释义	stagn.¹ Brit. /staɡ/, U.S. /stæɡ/ Forms: α. ? Middle English accusative staggon, Middle English–1600s stagge, (Middle English staghe), 1500s–1700s stagg, Middle English– stag. β. Middle English–1600s stage; also (sense 2 only) 1500s northern staige, 1600s staeg, Middle English– Scottish staig. Etymology: Probably representing Old English stacga (stagga* ) weak masculine; compare various other names of animals, docga dog, frocga frog, picga pig, wicga* beetle. The word seems to have meant properly a male animal in its prime; compare the various senses below and the cognate Old Norse steggi , stegg-r (Norwegian stegg ) male bird, modern Icelandic stegg-r tom-cat, formerly also male fox: see steg n.There is no ground for the current statement that stag is of Scandinavian origin, though some of the senses below may be due to confusion with steg n. 1. a. The male of a deer, esp. of the red deer; spec. a hart or male deer of the fifth year. (In the 15th cent. †stag of a hart.) ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > male > [noun] > in its fifth or sixth year stag?c1185 second head1774 the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > types of deer > [noun] > genus Cervus > Cervus elaphus (red deer) > male hartc825 stag?c1185 α. ?c1185 Pseudo-Cnut Constit. de Foresta xxiv, in Liebermann Gesetze der Ags. (1903) I. 624 (Stowe MS., late 16th c.) Regalem feram, quam Angli a staggon [Camb. MS. c. 1570 Astaggon, Harrison 1577 staggon] appellant. 14.. Chaucer's Sqr.'s T., heading of Part 11 MSS. Petworth & Corpus, The Stag of an hert. a1425 Edward, Duke of York Master of Game (Digby) ii Þe first yere þat thei [harts] be calfede, þei be ycalle a calfe þe secund yere a bulloke..þe thred yere a broket, þe iiii. yere a stagard, þe v. yere a stagge, þe vi. yere an herte of .x. 1473 Rolls of Parl. VI. 98/2 Oure Graunte.., of a Tonne Wyne, and a Stagge of an Hert. 1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie xxii. 62 If you find together the footing of two stagges. 1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie lxxix. 235 An Hart is called the firste yeare a Calfe..the fourth a Staggerd, the fifth a Stagge, and..the sixth..an Hart. 1584 H. Llwyd & D. Powel Hist. Cambria 157 William Rufus was slaine by an Arrowe shot at a Stagge. 1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion xii. 206 Those fallow Deere, and huge-hancht Stags that graz'd Vpon her shaggy Heaths. a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) Induct. ii. 47 Thy gray-hounds are as swift As breathed Stags: I fleeter then the Roe. View more context for this quotation a1648 Ld. Herbert Life (1976) 45 Forrests and Chaces which were well stored with wilde bore and stagg. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vii. 469 The swift Stag from under ground Bore up his branching head. View more context for this quotation 1735 W. Somervile Chace i. 283 [The] stately Stag, that o'er the Woodland reigns. 1822 P. B. Shelley Hellas 27 The tiger leagues not with the stag at bay Against the hunter. 1863 C. Lyell Geol. Evid. Antiq. Man 23 Venison, or the flesh of the stag and roe, was more eaten. 1877 Encycl. Brit. VII. 23/2 The Red Deer or Stag..the largest of the British deer, is a native of the temperate regions of Europe and Northern Asia. 1908 Blackwood's Mag. July 105/2 A herd of fourteen reindeer was seen... The horns of the entire band—for the hinds carry them as well as the stags—were still in velvet. β. 1546 in T. Stapleton Plumpton Corr. (1839) 250 I must..ride to Tankerslay..& se a showt at a stage, as my keper hath sent me wourd.c1550 Battle of Otterburn iii, in F. J. Child Eng. & Sc. Pop. Ballads (1889) III. vi. 295/1 Vpon Grene Lynton they lyghted dowyn, Styrande many a stage [rhyme crage]. b. figurative. Also in phrases †to go in stag: To go naked. †to make (a husband) a stag, to make to wear the stag's crest = to cuckold. (Obsolete.) ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > wearing clothing > nakedness or state of being unclothed > [verb (intransitive)] to go in stag1591 nakedize1858 society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > fornication, adultery, or incest > [verb (transitive)] > defile by adultery > dishonour husband by adultery byhorec1440 hornc1550 behorn1574 Actaeon1582 to make to wear the stag's crest1591 cornute1597 adhorn1605 hornify1607 tup1608 capricornify1611 cornify1611 cuckolda1616 Vulcan1624 wittol1624 branch1633 shoehorn1638 capricorn1665 cuckoldize1682 to liquor (a person's) bootsa1704 ram-head1713 1591 J. Florio Second Frutes 143 What dooth she make him weare the staggs crest then? 1602 T. Dekker Satiro-mastix sig. F3 No, come my little Cub, doe not scorne mee because I goe in Stag, in Buffe, heer's veluet too. 1612 B. Jonson Alchemist i. ii. sig. B4^v Dap. Yes, but I'ld ha' you Vse M^r. Doctor, with some more respect. Fac. Hang him proud Stagg, with his broad veluet head. View more context for this quotation 1659 T. Pecke Parnassi Puerperium 30 Paulina her first husband made a Stag. 1935 T. S. Eliot Murder in Cathedral i. 29 Cabined in Canterbury, realmless ruler, Self-bound servant of a powerless Pope, The old stag, circled with hounds. c. In the names of various species of the genus Cervus. axis stag n. an Indian deer ( C. axis). Carolina Stag n. the North American Wapiti ( C. canadensis). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > types of deer > [noun] > genus Cervus > Cervus elaphus (red deer) red deera1425 olen1591 wawaskeesh1716 wapiti1810 Carolina Stag1859 Roosevelt wapiti1897 Manchurian wapiti1898 Roosevelt elk1902 1859 J. G. Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. (new ed.) I. 693 The Wapiti or Carolina Stag. 1895 Outing Apr. 4/2 An axis stag glanced across the nala. 1896 R. Lydekker Brit. Mammals 242 Of the allied species, we may mention by name the..Thian Shan Stag (C. eustephanus), the Kashmir Stag (C. cashmirianus)..and the Lhasa Stag (C. thoroldi). d. The flesh of the stag; venison. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > game > [noun] > flesh of deer venisona1300 deer-flesha1400 stag1787 1787 A. C. Borrer Diaries & Corr. (1903) 71 He has given us twice Stag since I have been here. e. The horn of the stag, as a material for handles of cutlery. Also attributive. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > setting table > table utensils > [noun] > cutlery > material for handles stag1876 1876 Callis Cutlery (Brit. Manuf. Industr.) 173 Scales of wood and composition, pressed to imitate stag and buffalo, have been introduced for common goods. †f. transferred. flying stag, the stag-beetle n. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1658 J. Rowland tr. T. Moffett Theater of Insects in Topsell's Hist. Four-footed Beasts (rev. ed.) 1005 The πλατύκερως, or Harts horn Beetle... Some call it the Bull, others the flying Stag... The French, Cerf volant; the English, Stag-fly, or Flying-fly. 2. northern and Scottish. A young horse, esp. one unbroken. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by gender or age > [noun] > foal > unbroken stag1318 α. 1318 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1899) II. 373 Item sunt..2 stagges masculi, 1 pullanus masculus. 1346–7 in J. Raine Charters Priory Finchale (1837) p. xxvi Item unus staggus masculi unius anni. 1363 in J. Raine Charters Priory Finchale (1837) p. lxi ij staghes ætatis duorum annorum. 1439–40 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1899) II. 409 Item 1 equa cum 1 stag ij^or annorum. 1483 Cath. Angl. 358/1 A sstagge, pullus. a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xxx. 410 Vnethes may I wag, man, For-wery in youre stabill Whils I set my stag, man. 1514 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1884) V. 60 To Thomas, my sone, a stagge to make hym an horrse off. 1522 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories N. Counties Eng. (1835) I. 106 To John Cowndon..a colt stagge. 1565 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories N. Counties Eng. (1835) I. 245 Item I gyue to thomas pereson my graye fillie stagg. 1684 G. Meriton Praise Yorks. Ale (1685) 105 A Stag is a young Colt. 1778 J. Mill Diary (1889) 55 [The losses of horses and cattle] were soon supplied by the purchase of three cows and two pretty young staggs. 1788 W. Marshall Provincialisms E. Yorks. in Rural Econ. Yorks. II. 355 Stag, a young horse. β. 1478 in Acta Audit. (1839) 82/1 For a meire & a staig xl s.1540 in J. W. Clay North Country Wills (1908) I. i. 170 To Mathewe Hynde, xl s., a fely stage.1558 in J. Croft Excerpta Anat. (1797) 28 Item, a Bay Stoned Staige.a1585 A. Montgomerie Flyting with Polwart 395 Some [witches], on steid of a staig, ouer a starke monke straide.1617 in Extracts Rec. Convent. Burghs Scot. (1878) III. 47 Ilk ox, kow, horse, stote, meir, staeg.1654 in Extracts Rec. Convent. Burghs Scot. (1878) III. 388 Item, of ilk hors, meir or stage, going to the mercat, 1s.1792 R. Burns in J. Johnson Scots Musical Museum IV. 392 It's neither your stot nor your staig I shall crave..But gie me your wife, man.1812 T. Chalmers Let. in W. Hanna Mem. T. Chalmers (1851) I. 309 The staigs were returned to the glebe.Proverbs.1857 J. Miller Alcohol (1858) 123 Keep strong drink from the lad and the boy, ‘Corn is not for staigs’.1899 J. Spence Shetland Folk-lore 228 There's aye watter whaar the staig smores. 3. An animal castrated when full grown. a. A bull; more fully bull stag. Now dialect, Scottish and Australian. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > male > [noun] hartc825 doe-buck?a1500 olen1591 stag1680 the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > bull > [noun] > castrated or bullock > castrated late in life stag1680 α. 1680 London Gaz. No. 1482/4 One red Bull Stag with the same Mark. 1777 Ann. Reg. 1776 149/1 Good ox beef, instead of which he had substituted bull beef and bull stag beef. 1787 G. Winter New Syst. Husbandry 284 A dairyman's six heavy bull stags..broke over a well secured fence into my field of wheat. 1884 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Old Melbourne Mem. xvii. 123 I just recollect that blue stag... Was he in the mob you saw? 1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. Stag,..2. A castrated bull. The term is applied to any animal emasculated after maturity. 1894 Harper's Mag. Feb. 354 They require work-steers to do their ploughing and Mr. Bell has brought up half a dozen old ‘stags’. β. 1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian ii, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. II. 44 He returned..muttering that he thought he heard the ‘young staig loose in the byre’.1821 W. Scott Pirate III. iii. 56 The air and bearing of a bull-dog, whilk I have seen loosed at a fair upon a mad staig.1856 J. C. Morton Cycl. Agric. (new ed.) II. (Gloss.) 726/1 Stag,..In Scot., Staig. Bull-staig is a castrated bull. b. A boar, hog, or ram. dialect. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > order Artiodactyla (cloven-hoofed animals) > [noun] > group Suiformes (hippos and pigs) > family Suidae (swine) > male boarc1000 stag1784 the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > order Artiodactyla (cloven-hoofed animals) > pig > [noun] > male > castrated or hog barrowc950 hogOE swine hog1381 barrow-pig1547 stag1784 mudlark1785 the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > genus Ovus > [noun] > Ovus Aries (domestic sheep) > male > castrated or wether wetherc890 wether sheep13.. muttonc1450 stag1784 hamel1835 wedder1866 1784 [see stag-hog n. at Compounds 1b(a)]. 1811 T. Davis Gen. View Agric. Wilts. (new ed.) 260 Boar stag, a castrated boar. 1851 T. Sternberg Dial. & Folk-lore Northants. Stag, an old boar. 1863 W. Barnes Gram. & Gloss. Dorset Dial. Stag, a castrated male animal; as, a ram-stag, a boar-stag, a bull-stag. 4. Applied to the male of various birds. (Cf. steg n.) a. A cock. dialect. Also spec. in Cock-fighting, a cock less than one year old. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Phasianidae (pheasants, etc.) > hen or cock > [noun] > cock cockeOE chanticleer?a1300 common astrologera1413 dunghill cock1561 red cock1591 cock-a-doodle-doo1604 roost-cock1606 alectryon1664 stag1730 rooster1772 doodle-doo1785 cock bird1788 the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Phasianidae (pheasants, etc.) > hen or cock > [noun] > cock > fighting cock > young stag1730 1730 J. Cheny Hist. List Horse-matches 168 Each side shew'd some Cocks and some Staggs. 1758 [see stag-match n. at Compounds 2a]. 1770 Newcastle Chron. Advt. To be fought for..on the 31st of December, Fifty pounds by cocks and stags, 3lbs. 14oz. 1815 Sporting Mag. 46 59 The practice of running stags with cocks is unavoidable. 1823 ‘J. Bee’ Slang (at cited word) A young game cock—is a stag. 1886 Live Stock Jrnl. 23 July 99/1 [Letter from Devonshire] Many people who keep hens for their eggs alone do not allow a stag with them. 1894 S. Baring-Gould Kitty Alone I. 96 Bramber learned that day that a cock in Devonshire is entitled stag. 1902 Lindsey & Lincs. Star 29 Nov. 5/2 Fowl stealing... In one case a fine buff Orpington stag has been taken. b. A turkey-cock of two years and upwards. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > [noun] > member of Meleagrididae (turkey) > male cock of India1546 brissel-cockc1565 guinea-cock1577 turkey-cock1578 gobbler1725 bubbly jock1785 staga1825 Tom1840 longbeard1974 a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Stag, a cock turkey, killed for the table in his second year. 1849 W. Raynbird & H. Raynbird On Agric. Suffolk vi. 300 Stag—a cock turkey killed for the table in his second year, by which time he often weighs 20 lbs. or more. 1850 D. J. Browne Amer. Poultry Yard 165 When a cock turkey arrives at the age of two years, he is called a ‘stag’. †c. A young swan. Obsolete. (Cf. steg n. swan.) ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Anseriformes (geese, etc.) > subfamily Cyginae (swans) > [noun] > member of genus Cygnus (miscellaneous) > cygnus olor (common swan) > young cygnetc1430 stag1544 swannetc1560 staggard1619 1544 Will of Roberte North (P.R.O.: PROB. 11/32) f. 84 My Swanne marke w^t all the Swannes Stagges & Signettes callid the crowfote. 5. dialect. The wren. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > non-arboreal (larks, etc.) > [noun] > family Troglodytidae > genus Troglodytes > species troglodytes (wren) wrenc725 little kingc1450 Our Lady's hena1529 jenny wren1648 regulus1678 tope1813 staga1825 kitty1825 feather-poke1831 robin1837 robin redbreasta1873 jenny1881 St. Kilda wren1884 a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Stag, a wren. 1885 C. Swainson Provinc. Names Brit. Birds 35 Wren (Troglodytes parvulus), Stag, Tope (Norfolk; Cornwall). 1893 in H. T. Cozens-Hardy Broad Norfolk (Eastern Daily Press) 51 Stag, Common Wren. 6. dialect and colloquial. A big, romping girl; a bold woman. ΚΠ 1684 G. Meriton York-shire Dial. 55 Nea, nea, great stags, what a durdum thou macks! 1790 F. Grose Provinc. Gloss. (ed. 2) Stag,..a romping girl. 1877 F. Ross et al. Gloss. Words Holderness 135/2 Stag,..a rude, romping girl. 1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 411 The likes of her! Stag that one is. Stubborn as a mule! 1922 D. H. Lawrence Aaron's Rod (N.Y. ed.) iii. 33 She too was a tall stag of a thing. 7. slang. [Probably < sense 1; but the reason for the use is obscure.] a. An informer; esp. in phrase to turn stag. Also see quot. 1725. ΘΚΠ society > communication > information > informing on or against > [noun] > informer wrayerc1000 wrobberc1300 discoverera1400 denunciator1474 informer1503 denouncer1533 detector1541 delatora1572 sycophant1579 inquisitor1580 scout1585 finger man1596 emphanista1631 quadruplator1632 informant1645 eastee-man1681 whiddler1699 runner1724 stag1725 snitch1785 qui tam1788 squeak1795 split1819 clype1825 telegraph1825 snitcher1827 Jack Nasty1837 pigeon1847 booker1863 squealer1865 pig1874 rounder1884 sneak1886 mouse1890 finger1899 fizgig1902 screamer1902 squeaker1903 canary1912 shopper1924 narker1932 snurge1933 cheese eater1935 singer1935 tip-off1941 top-off1941 tout1959 rat fink1961 whistle-blower1970 1725 New Canting Dict. Stag,..as, I spy a Stag, used by..Shepherd, lately executed, when he first saw the Turnkey of Newgate, who pursu'd and took him. 1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Stag, to turn stag, a rogue who impeaches his confederates. a1826 J. Holt Mem. (1838) II. 52 We had two disturbers of the harmony of the ship; I mean two stags or informers. 1834 W. H. Ainsworth Rookwood I. i. viii. 217 As to clapping him in quod, he might prattle—might turn stag. a1849 J. Keegan Legends & Poems (1907) 367 My father..became a deserter, but he was not a coward, nor a traitor, nor a stag. b. (See quots.) ΘΚΠ society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > specific offences > [noun] > perjury > perjurer manswareOE false swearerc1380 mansworna1400 forswearer1413 perjurera1500 perjured1526 perjurea1540 post-knight1576 knight of the post1580 perjurator1689 mounter1781 stag1823 straw-shoe1826 subornee1890 perjuress1898 1823 ‘J. Bee’ Slang s.v. Queer bail are ‘stag’: those men who being hired at a guinea or two per oath, to swear they are worth vast sums, stand about judges' chambers in term-time. 1848 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (at cited word) In the New York courts, a stag is the technical name for a man who is always ready to aid in proving an alibi, of course ‘for a consideration’. c. (See quot. 1857.) ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > English coins > [noun] > shilling s.1387 solidus?a1475 shilling1533 teston1543 twelvepence1563 bord1567 twelvepenny piece1594 sh.1607 hog1673 twelver1699 she-lion1744 grunter1785 twalpenny worth1786 bob1789 pega1790 tower shilling1800 little shilling1826 deaner1839 rogue and villain1857 stag1857 hole1934 1857 ‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue 20 Stag, shilling. 1887 W. E. Henley Villon's Straight Tip 15 You cannot bank a single stag. d. A spell of duty. (See also quot. 1881.) ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > work > times or periods of work > [noun] > spell of work or duty trick1669 time1696 stem1778 turn1793 tour of duty1800 spell1804 shift1809 steek1889 go-in1890 steek1895 stag1931 wink1937 1881 S. Evans Evans's Leicestershire Words (new ed.) 255 A ‘stag’ is also one set to watch while his fellows are engaged in anything in which they wish not to be caught. 1931 J. Brophy & E. Partridge Songs & Slang Brit. Soldier: 1914–1918 (ed. 3) 361 Stag, sentry-go. 1959 R. Storey Touch it Light in Plays of Year XVIII. 341 There's seven stags in the hours o' darkness and only five of you to do 'em. Somebody has to do two. 1975 A. Beevor Violent Brink iv. 97 The films would be handed in for processing when they were relieved at the end of their two hour ‘stag’. e. elliptical for stag-dinner n., stag-party n. at Compounds 1c, etc. ( Compounds 1c). North American. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > meal > feast > [noun] > feasts for other occasions plough feast1355 king ale1472 natal1484 primifeste1551 mayor's feast1578 sheep-shearing feast1586 sheep-shearing1611 christening1617 bean-feast1805 updrinking1819 Thanksgiving dinner1830 bump supper1845 potlatch1858 stag1904 rehearsal dinner1906 society > leisure > social event > social gathering > party > [noun] > party for men only stag-party1856 bachelor party1902 stag1971 1904 Brooklyn Daily Eagle 28 May 3 The Myrtle Fishing Club will have a stag at Hurman Hub's Park this evening. 1947 Chicago Tribune 19 Oct. (Comic Suppl.) 6 The marchin' and chowder club's throwin' a stag tonight. 1971 ‘R. Lewis’ Fenokee Project viii. 148 He's getting married tomorrow. Tonight he's holding his stag, and most of the men from the dam are going along. f. U.S. A man who attends a social function without a female partner. Also quasi-adv. in to go stag. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > social event > [noun] > participant > unattached man or men stag1905 stag line1934 1905 N. Davis Northerner 213 ‘No man not escorting a lady’—a stag, you know—could go upon the floor. 1905 Dial. Notes 3 21 Are you going to the dance stag? 1924 P. Marks Plastic Age xix. 210 True, he was not ‘dragging a woman’, but several of the brothers were going ‘stag’; so he felt completely at ease. 1926 Ladies' Home Jrnl. July 117 Too many girls failed to get paired; too many boys went stag and saved cab hire. 1928 Daily Express 14 Dec. 19 A needy or avaricious ‘stag’—as male dancers are called in the United States. 1948 This Week Mag. 1 May 16/3 The sign read: ‘No Stags Allowed’. 1979 R. Jaffe Class Reunion (1980) i. viii. 117 A lot of boys went to the parties stag. Social life was easy for them, not the way it was for girls, who had to wait..until someone called. 1980 R. L. Duncan Brimstone iii. 59 They're not going to let you in by yourself. They have a rule against stags. 8. Commerce slang. a. A person who applies for an allocation of shares in a joint-stock concern solely with a view to selling immediately at a profit. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [noun] > dealer in stocks and shares > type of profit taker1552 bull1714 bear1718 fund-monger1734 lame duck1806 stag1845 taker-in1852 cornerer1869 wrecker1876 corner-man1881 market-rigger1881 boursocrat1882 offeror1882 ribbon clerk1882 inflater1884 manipulator1888 underwriter1889 kangaroo1896 piker1898 share pusher1898 specialist1900 tailer1900 writer1906 placee1953 corporate raider1955 tippee1961 raider1972 bottom fisher1974 white knight1978 greenmailer1984 1845 W. M. Thackeray in Punch 9 191 All the Stags in Capel Court. 1846 Punch 10 139 The bubble has in the mean time burst, the deposit is not paid, and the Stag..gives himself no more trouble about the scheme. 1857 S. Smiles Life G. Stephenson xxx. 408 Noble lords were pointed at as ‘stags’..in the share markets. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 13 Apr. 9/1 Another point in the prospectus is the attempt to discriminate between the stag and the bona-fide investor. b. (See quot. 1854.) ΚΠ 1854 H. Ayres Fenn's Eng. & Foreign Funds 109 A Stag is one who is not a Member of the Stock Exchange, but deals outside, and is sometimes called an ‘Outsider’. Compounds C1. attributive and in other combinations. a. Similative, as stag-eyed, stag-necked, stag-sure adjs. ΚΠ 1793 T. Holcroft tr. J. C. Lavater Ess. Physiognomy (abridged ed.) xl. 213 The stag-necked horse. 1826 T. Hood Stag-eyed Lady 42 Therefore he chose a lady for his love, Singling from out the herd one stag-eyed dear. 1896 N. Munro Lost Pibroch 69 Girls..not with a flat slouching foot on the soil, but high in the instep, bounding and stag-sure. b. quasi-adj. (a) = male. stag-bird n. ΚΠ 1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. at Stag When applied to poultry stag-bird is the usual term for a male kept for breeding purposes. stag harte-beest n. ΚΠ 1850 R. Gordon-Cumming Five Years Hunter's Life S. Afr. I. ix. 188 He had observed an old stag hartebeest standing in the shade of some tall green bushes. stag-hog n. ΚΠ 1784 H. Mure in Ann. Agric. 1 124 In a third stye, two stag-hogs that would rise to 20 or 25 stone. stag-moose n. ΚΠ 1722 P. Dudley Moose-deer in Philos. Trans. 1720–21 (Royal Soc.) 31 166 Our Hunters have found a Buck, or Stagg-Moose, of fourteen Spans in heighth from the Withers. stag-swan n. stag-turkey n. ΚΠ 1892 Ld. Tennyson Churchwarden & Curate vii An' 'e torn'd as red as a stag-turkey's wattles. (b) (In sense 2.) stag-bay n. ΚΠ 1606 in Quarter Sessions Rec. (N. Riding Rec. Soc.) (1884) I. 55 Unum equum testiculatum, anglice a stoned stagg bay. stag-foal n. ΚΠ 1883 R. M. Fergusson Rambling Sketches xv. 97 May a' your mares be well to foal, An' every ane be a staig foal. stag-horse n. ΚΠ 1857 G. Borrow Romany Rye I. xi. 166 I..goes into a field, suppose by night, where there is a very fine stag horse. c. slang (originally U.S.) = pertaining to or composed of males only; frequently applied spec. to a celebration held on the eve of a man's marriage. Cf. hen party n. stag-dance n. ΚΠ 1848 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms Stag-Dance, a dance performed by males only, in bar-rooms, &c. 1873 J. Miller Life amongst Modocs viii. 94 In one of the saloons..men were wont to..have stag-dances. stag devilry n. ΚΠ 1911 H. S. Harrison Queed xv. 185 Buck Klinker, returning from some stag devilry at the hour of two a.m. stag-dinner n. ΚΠ 1884 H. G. Carleton Thompson St. Poker Club 35 Mr. Tooter Williams had been to a stag dinner in the early evening. stag-night n. ΚΠ 1965 Listener 9 Sept. 373/2 On ‘stag nights’ it [sc. the entertainment] is pretty blue. 1973 in E. Dunphy Only a Game? (1976) iv. 110 We went out this evening for his stag night. stag-party n. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > social event > social gathering > party > [noun] > party for men only stag-party1856 bachelor party1902 stag1971 1856 Knickerbocker Mag. Apr. 407 in R. H. Thornton Amer. Gloss. (1912) A party of old bricks [read bucks], who, under pretence of looking at the picture, are keeping up a small stag-party at the end of the room. 1923 ‘Bartimeus’ Seaways xii. 234 We don't want any women. We'll just have a stag party and talk Service shop and play pool afterwards. 1978 J. Wainwright Thief of Time 83 I know people... Class strippers. Stag-party hostesses. There's a real market. C2. a. Special combinations. stag-book n. Commerce slang a book in which was entered the names of the stags or bogus shareholders (see 8). ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [noun] > book recording names of stags stag-book1854 1854 Househ. Words 8 470 You allotted to a great many stags, sir... Didn't you have any stag-books when you allotted? stag-cart n. = deer-cart n. at deer n. Compounds 2. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > hunting > equipment > [noun] > deer-cart deer-cart1840 stag-cart1894 society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > cart or wagon for conveying goods > [noun] > types of > wagon or cart for specific articles > for stag or deer to the hunt deer-cart1840 stag-cart1894 1894 Daily News 8 Feb. 2/6 A stag-cart of the Mid-Kent staghounds. † stag-chase n. Obsolete = stag-hunting n. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > hunting > hunting specific animals > [noun] > deer roe huntc1381 roe hunting1486 buck-hunting1664 stag-hunting1722 stag-chase1725 deer-stalking1816 stag-hunt1842 roe stalking1850 1725 in Hist. MSS Comm.: Rep. MSS Duke of Portland (1901) VI. 87 in Parl. Papers (Cd. 676) XXXVI. i. 1 This [park] the Duke designed as the chief nursery for his stag-chase. stag-evil n. (see quots.). ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of visible parts > [noun] > swelling of face > disease of jaw stag-evil1696 the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > convulsive or paralytic disorders > [noun] > palsy or paralysis > paralysis of other parts stag-evil1696 histrionic paralysis1853 glossoplegia1854 spinal shock1898 the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of horses > [noun] > other disorders of horses trench?a1450 colt-evilc1460 affreyd?1523 cholera1566 crick1566 incording1566 leprosy1566 taint1566 eyesore1576 fistula1576 wrench1578 birth1600 garrot1600 stithy1600 stifling1601 stranglings1601 hungry evil1607 pose1607 crest-fall1609 pompardy1627 felteric1639 quick-scab1639 shingles1639 clap1684 sudden taking1688 bunches1706 flanks1706 strangles1706 chest-founderingc1720 body-founder1737 influenza1792 foundering1802 horse-sickness1822 stag-evil1823 strangullion1830 shivering1847 dourine1864 swamp fever1870 African horse sickness1874 horse-pox1884 African horse disease1888 wind-stroke1890 thump1891 leucoencephalitis1909 western equine encephalitis1933 stachybotryotoxicosis1945 rhinopneumonitis1957 1696 W. Hope tr. J. de Solleysel Compl. Horseman ii. xxxvii. 56 (heading) Of the Stag's Evil, or Palsie in the Jaw. 1759 T. Wallis Farrier's & Horseman's Compl. Dict. at Convulsions Solleysell calls this malady the stag's evil, or palsy in the jaws. 1823 J. Pursglove Pract. Farriery 81 In convulsions, or stag evil, the horse appears full of spirit. stag-fever n. (see quot.). ΚΠ 1911 B. Holland Life 8th Duke of Devonshire ii. xxiv. 237 He is said to have suffered at critical moments of the sport from the excitement known as stag fever. stag film n. originally U.S. a pornographic film made for a male audience. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > a film > type of film > [noun] > pornographic film stag movie1960 pornie1965 skin-flick1965 stag film1968 porno1971 hard R1974 1968 Wall St. Jrnl. 11 Sept. 18/1 Pornography is not one of the nation's truly burning issues, and showing stag films is not our idea of how to run the world's greatest deliberative body. 1977 Gay News 7 Apr. 23/2 She..made these very tame, anodyne stag films that she's always denying. † stag-fly n. Obsolete the stag-beetle. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Coleoptera or beetles and weevils > [noun] > Polyphaga (omnivorous) > superfamily Lamellicornia Scarabaeoidea > family Lucanidae (stag-beetles) > member of genus Lucanus (stag-beetle) bull-fly1585 hornet1585 stag-fly1634 hartshorn beetle1658 flying hart1676 stag-beetle1681 flying stag1765 pinching bug1850 pinch bug1856 1634 T. T. de Mayerne et al. Moffett's Insectorum Theatrum (new ed.) i. xxi. 134 Anglis Stag-flie, vel Flying-flie. 1693 S. Dale Pharmacologia 538 Scarabæus cornutus, Schrod... The Stag-fly. stag-hafted adj. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > cutting tool > knife > [adjective] > having handle made of horn stag-hafted1797 buck-hafted1815 1797 J. Robinson Directory of Sheffield 45 Stag hafted penknife cutler. stag-handled adj. furnished with a haft or handle of stag-horn. stag-hog n. = babirusa n. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > order Artiodactyla (cloven-hoofed animals) > [noun] > group Suiformes (hippos and pigs) > family Suidae (swine) > genus Babiroussa (babirussa) babirusa1673 Indian hog1754 hog deer1798 stag-hog1827 pig deer1869 1827 E. Griffith et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom III. 332 The Babiroussa, or Stag Hog. stag-hunt n. the chasing of a stag as a sport. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > hunting > hunting specific animals > [noun] > deer roe huntc1381 roe hunting1486 buck-hunting1664 stag-hunting1722 stag-chase1725 deer-stalking1816 stag-hunt1842 roe stalking1850 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy lii There was a stag-hunt on the lake. 1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xx. 401 Without exposing himself to any risk greater than that of a staghunt at Fontainebleau. stag-hunter n. one who hunts the stag; also, a horse used in stag-hunting. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by purpose used for > [noun] > used in hunting > for hunting particular type animal stag-hunter1709 runner1810 pigsticker1900 1709 London Gaz. No. 4540/8 Stoln or strayed.., a..Bay Gelding,..hath been a known and constant Stag-Hunter in the Forest of Sherwood for 2 or 3 Years past. stag-hunting n. the sport of chasing the stag; an instance of this. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > hunting > hunting specific animals > [noun] > deer roe huntc1381 roe hunting1486 buck-hunting1664 stag-hunting1722 stag-chase1725 deer-stalking1816 stag-hunt1842 roe stalking1850 1722 London Gaz. No. 6112/1 There was a general Stag hunting. 1845 W. Youatt Dog iii. 86 Since the death of George III..stag-hunting has rapidly declined. stag-like adj. resembling a stag or that of a stag. ΚΠ 1627 T. May tr. Lucan Pharsalia (new ed.) ii. D 1 b Along the hauens stagge-like Hornes they runne Swiftly to shore. 1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Leila i. i. 4 The small erect head and stag-like throat. stag line n. U.S. the group of unattached young men at a social function. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > social event > [noun] > participant > unattached man or men stag1905 stag line1934 1934 J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra i. 16 She would get twice around the dance floor with the same partner, then someone would step out of the stag line and cut in. 1977 G. V. Higgins Dreamland v. 47 As a member of Porcellian I had been invited to the stag line at a gathering on Beacon Hill. † stag-match n. Cock-fighting Obsolete a match for young cocks (see 4a). ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > fighting or baiting animals > fighting between animals > [noun] > cock-fighting > types of fight Welsh main1744 bye1754 stag-match1758 1758 London Chron. 29 June 614/2 The Stag Match between Sir Henry Grey, Bart., and Jennison Shafto, Esq. stag movie n. originally U.S. = stag film n. above. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > a film > type of film > [noun] > pornographic film stag movie1960 pornie1965 skin-flick1965 stag film1968 porno1971 hard R1974 1960 Christian Herald July 14/2 Teen-agers bought ‘stag movies’ for as much as $50 a reel. 1971 Ink 12 June 3/1 What he found was a hundred men having their mid-shift tea break and enjoying a stag movie. † stag-skin n. Obsolete the prepared hide of a stag. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > skin or hide > [noun] > deer-skin deerskin1396 buckskin1433 fawn-skin1553 stag-skin1657 1657 G. Thornley tr. Longus Daphnis & Chloe (1893) 60 She gave him a new Scrip of Stag-skin. † stag-snake n. Obsolete = Elaps n. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > reptiles > order Squamata (lizards and snakes) > suborder Ophidia (snakes) > types of snake > [noun] > family Elapidae or Najidae > member of genus Elaps stag-snake1668 bead-snake1737 coral-snake1758 coral-serpent1774 garter-snake1775 nachtslang1821 death adder1833 coral1852 1668 W. Charleton Onomasticon Zoicon 32 Elaps..the Stag-Snake. † stag-worm n. Obsolete (see quot.). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > division Vermes > [noun] > member of (worm) > parasitic or harmful > to animals sting-worm1577 felter1607 needle-worma1750 stag-worm1753 heartworm1877 1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Stag-worms,..a name given to a species of worms produced of the eggs of a fly, and lodged..behind, and under the palate of the stag. b. In the names of plants. stag bush n. (see quot.). ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > shrubs > viburnums or guelder rose and allies > [noun] bendwithc1440 opier1548 opulus1548 ople1551 dwarf plane tree1578 water elder1578 whitten1578 guelder rose1597 rose elder1597 wayfaring man's tree1597 wayfaring tree1597 opiet1601 cotton tree1633 viorne1637 mealy tree1640 laurustinus1664 stinking tree1681 black haw1688 laurel-thyme1693 laurustine1693 viburnum1731 wayfaring shrub1731 May rose1753 pembina1760 snowball tree1760 mealtree1785 stink-tree1795 cherry-wood1821 snowball1828 sloe1846 withe-rod1846 lithy-tree1866 nannyberry1867 king's crown1879 stag bush1884 snowball bush1931 1884 C. S. Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. 94 Viburnum prunifolium..Black Haw. Stag Bush. stag fern n. = staghorn fern (see stag-horn n. 2c). ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > ferns > [noun] > other ferns mountain parsley1578 female fern1597 rock parsley1597 spleenwort1597 marsh fern1686 prickly fern1764 parsley fern1777 sensitive fern1780 lady fern1783 stone-brake1796 mountain fern1800 rock brake1802 walking leaf1811 todea1813 shield-fern1814 Woodsia1815 mangemange1817 cinnamon fern1818 climbing fern1818 bladder-fern1828 king fern1829 filmy fern1830 ostrich fern1833 New York fern1843 mokimoki1844 rhizocarp1852 film-fern1855 nardoo1860 gymnogram1861 holly-fern1861 limestone-polypody1861 elk-horn1865 Gleichenia1865 lizard's herb1866 cliff brake1867 kidney fern1867 Christmas fern1873 Prince of Wales feathers1873 Christmas shield fern1878 buckler-fern1882 crape-fern1882 stag-horn1882 ladder fern1884 oleander fern1884 stag fern1884 resam1889 lip-fern1890 coral-fern1898 bamboo fern1930 pteroid1949 fern-gale- 1884 Chron. London Missionary Soc. Apr. 102 Huge stag ferns or fantastic shapes. † stag's garlic n. Obsolete (see garlic n. 1b). Draft additions June 2016 stag do n. (a) (North American) a social event attended only by men (now rare); (b) (originally and chiefly British) a celebration for a man who is about to get married, attended by his male friends and relations, and often characterized by heavy drinking and bawdy entertainment. ΚΠ 1915 Bakersfield Californian 23 Sept. 1/2 A reception is called in college parlance a ‘Do’. When it is held by boys, it becomes a ‘Stag-Do’. 1961 G. Ross Television Jubilee v. 103 It was decided to try out the idea of informality on television, though necessarily with different material from that used for stag do's at the Friar's Club! 1992 D. McLean Bucket of Tongues (1994) 90 Surely this was one of the Great Scottish Traditions, that the groom should be half-pished and three-quarters hungover from his stag do right through the ceremony and the reception. 2003 Empire May 56/1 After his stag do, Paul is horrified when he awakes in bed with dancer Becky. Draft additions June 2016 stag weekend n. (a) (North American) a social event taking place over a weekend and attended only by men; (b) (originally and chiefly British) a celebration organized for a man who is about to get married, attended by his male friends and relations, and taking place over the course of a weekend. ΚΠ 1907 Lumber World 1 June 51/2 Fred..invited a few of his friends to a stag week-end fishing party. 1941 Motor Boating Jan. 64/2 Except on an occasional stag weekend,..a galley..[is an] important..adjunct to comfortable cruising. 1981 Colorado Springs Gaz. Tel. 18 Oct. 3 f/2 Bob had turned this trip into a stag weekend in which the eight of us cooked up a storm..[and] drank a good deal. 1988 R. Harty Grand Tour ii. 37 They were off to Ostend for a stag weekend. The prospective groom was accompanied by his father. 2005 GQ Oct. 396 (advt.) From unique activities like..cliff-jumping to the standard strippers,..Chillisauce offers everything you need for an unforgettable stag weekend. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1915; most recently modified version published online March 2022). stagn.² Brit. /staɡ/, U.S. /stæɡ/ Etymology: Perhaps a variant of stack n. Perhaps: = stack n. 7. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > land > land mass > reef > stack > [noun] carrc950 stack1769 stag1776 stalk1806 sea-stack1899 1776 Ann. Reg. 1775 185/1 The Abby,..having lately gone to pieces on the Stags near Kenrule, in Ireland, the captain, mate, and two common men..were cast upon the lower stags. 1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Stag, a name given to a rock..as off the Lizard, Castlehaven, &c. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1915; most recently modified version published online March 2022). stagn.³ Brit. /staɡ/, U.S. /stæɡ/ Etymology: ? variant of stake n.¹ 1. A stake, pile. (Cf. stag v.²) dialect. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > tool > types of tools generally > [noun] > in form of bar, pole, rod, etc. stingc725 stakec893 sowelc900 tree971 rungOE shaftc1000 staffc1000 stockc1000 poleOE spritOE luga1250 lever1297 stanga1300 perchc1300 raftc1330 sheltbeam1336 stower1371 palea1382 spar1388 spire1392 perk1396 ragged staff1397 peela1400 slot1399 plantc1400 heck-stower1401 sparkin1408 cammockc1425 sallow stakec1440 spoke1467 perk treec1480 yard1480 bode1483 spit1485 bolm1513 gada1535 ruttock1542 stob1550 blade1558 wattle1570 bamboo1598 loggat1600 barling1611 sparret1632 picket1687 tringle1706 sprund1736 lug-pole1773 polting lug1789 baton1801 stuckin1809 rack-pin1821 picket-pin1844 I-iron1874 pricker1875 stag1881 podger1888 window pole1888 verge1897 sallow pole1898 lat1899 swizzle-stick1962 1881 S. Evans Evans's Leicestershire Words (new ed.) Stag, var. pron. of ‘stake’. 1887 D. Donaldson Jamieson's Sc. Dict. Suppl. 227/1 Stag, a stake, pile, fixed or for fixing in the ground. West of S., Aberd[een]. †2. A tinman's tool = stake n.¹ 5a. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > metalworking equipment > [noun] > forging equipment > anvil > types of bickern1547 stake1660 welting stake1660 stag1688 table anvil1824 sparrow-hawk1869 teest1877 1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory (1905) iii. xxii. 269/2 He beareth Azure, a Small Stag, or a Round Stag, Argent. This..is for the raiseing of round filletts in Tyn for the Adornement of their Works. The second thing in this square is called a Creesing Stag. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1915; most recently modified version published online March 2022). † stagadj. Forms: Also stagg(e, stage. Etymology: Of obscure origin. Obsolete. Of furs: Raw, unseasoned. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > skin or hide > skin with hair attached or fur > [adjective] > attributes of furs generally pureda1382 stag1545 burnt1909 furriered1923 ranched1932 sheared1939 let-out1949 1545 Rates Custome House sig. avij^v Callabre stagg. 1545 Rates Custome House sig. bij^v Foyne stagge. 1545 Rates Custome House sig. dij Stagge the thousande.. Stagge the hundreth. 1582 Rates Custome House (new ed.) sig. Aviij Callaber stage. 1604 Rates Marchandizes sig. D4 Foynes wombes seasoned... Foynes wombes stage. 1640 in J. Entick Hist. London (1767) II. 177 Coney skins grey, tawed, seasoned or stag. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1915; most recently modified version published online March 2021). stagv.¹ Forms: Also 1800s steg. Etymology: Probably related to stagger v. Compare Old Norse staka to push, stagger (whence stakra stagger v.). The identity of the word in the various senses below is uncertain. †1. a. intransitive. To stagger, waver. Obsolete. ΘΠ the world > movement > motion in specific manner > irregular movement or agitation > unsteady movement > move unsteadily [verb (intransitive)] > reel, stagger, or sway unsteadily stackera1300 welt13.. waggera1382 swaver?a1400 blundc1400 swab14.. swabble14.. gogglec1460 reel1477 galay1489 stagger1530 swag1530 stag1561 wheel1832 swig1833 wavel1896 1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. iii. ix. f. 156^v For euen the Prophete confesseth that his fete stagged. b. ? To flinch, yield, give way. rare. ΚΠ 1831 Fraser's Mag. 3 652 The House of Lords..are now making a loud clattering of their determination to stand against the bill—but it is no go. I lay you the long odds..that their Lordships stag. 2. To walk with long strides. Hence stagged-up, tired out with walking. Scottish and dialect. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > progressive motion > walking > walk, tread, or step [verb (intransitive)] > with long steps stridec1200 lamper1727 striddle1786 stroam1796 sling1808 stag1823 the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > weariness or exhaustion > [adjective] > by or with walking or running forrun1297 forwalkeda1375 weary of-walkedc1400 forrakeda1500 surbated1575 footsore1660 weary-foot1791 footworn1792 stagged-up1866 run1876 1823 J. Mactaggart Sc. Gallovidian Encycl. 311 His ghaist..was seen by many stegging about the estate. 1866 E. Waugh Ben an' th' Bantam 66 Aw let on her [a traveller] o' tother side Yealey Ho'; quite stagged up. 1888 S. O. Addy Gloss. Words Sheffield Stag, to walk quickly. 1895 S. R. Crockett Men of Moss-hags xix Auld Anton went stegging over the hills, till I was fair driven out of my breath. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1915; most recently modified version published online December 2020). † stagv.² Etymology: ? < stag n.³; or variant of stake v.¹ Scottish. Obsolete. rare. transitive. To support with piles. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > building or providing with specific parts > build or provide with specific parts [verb (transitive)] > lay foundations > with piles pile1432 stag1610 spile1829 sheet-pile1842 1610 Aberdeen Reg. (1848) II. 300 The said brig to be staggit and branderit sufficiently in deipnes vnder the channall, to mak a sufficient ground to big vpoun. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1915; most recently modified version published online June 2021). stagv.³ Brit. /staɡ/, U.S. /stæɡ/ Etymology: < stag n.¹ 1. slang. a. transitive. To observe; to take particular notice of; to watch; also, to find out or discover by observation, to detect. Also absol. or intransitive. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > find out, discover [verb (transitive)] seeOE fanda1000 finda1200 kenc1330 lenda1350 agropea1393 contrive1393 to find outc1405 outsearch?a1439 ripec1440 inventc1475 disclose?a1500 fish1531 agnize?1570 discover1585 to grope out1590 out-find1590 expiscate1598 vent1611 to learn out1629 to get to know1643 develop1653 ascertain1794 stag1796 root1866 to get a line on1903 establish1919 the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (intransitive)] > observe or watch spya1400 wait1399 espyc1405 watch1487 gate?1590 to look sharp1680 stag1796 to keep one's eyes peeled1844 to skin one's eyes1851 to peel one's eyes1875 to take sights1934 the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (transitive)] > watch or observe keepc1000 overseeOE waitc1300 advisec1325 awaita1375 to wait on ——c1384 markc1400 contemplec1429 to keep (also have) an (or one's) eye on (also upon)a1450 to look straitly to?c1450 to wait after ——c1460 vizy1488 contemplatea1533 vise1551 pry?1553 observe1567 eye1592 over-eye?1592 watch1600 outwatch1607 spell1633 superintend1654 under-watch1654 tent1721 evigilate1727 twig1764 stag1796 eye-serve1800 spy1806 deek1825 screw1905 clock1911 1796 Grose's Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue (ed. 3) To Stag, to find, discover, observe. 1806 T. S. Surr Winter in London II. v. 120 I shall soon stag who they are. 1823 ‘J. Bee’ Slang (at cited word) To ‘stag’ a thief, to look on, and spoil his sport: ‘What's that cove a stagging there for? Down him, Billy’. 1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants. Words II. 289 When workmen are taking beer clandestinely, one of them keeps on the look out, to watch or ‘stag the master’. 1859 H. Kingsley Recoll. G. Hamlyn v So you've been stagging this gentleman and me, and listening, have you? 1897 G. Bartram People of Clopton v. 130 Who set ye on to watch me?.. And at last..he admitted that Master John had told him to keep an eye on me and Jenny—to ‘stag’ us if he saw us out together—and to get a witness to what went on between us. b. (See quots.) ΚΠ 1811 Sporting Mag. 37 11 ‘I stagged him my Lord’.—‘Stagged him, what do you mean by stagged him?’—‘Why, my Lord, I mean I was down upon him’. 1870 Daily News 13 July In the event of a man refusing or sloping, as it was termed, his line was what was called ‘stagged’, and when he went for an advance it was resolutely refused. c. intransitive. To turn informer; to inform against. ΘΚΠ society > communication > information > informing on or against > inform on or against [verb (intransitive)] inform1588 peach1598 whistle1599 sing1612 whiddlec1661 squeak1690 wheedle1710 whittle1735 to blow the gab1785 snitch1801 rat1810 nose1811 sing1816 gnarl1819 split1819 stag1839 clype1843 squeal1846 blow1848 to round on1857 nark1859 pimp1865 squawk1872 ruck1884 to come or turn copper1891 copper1897 sneak1897 cough1901 stool1911 tattle-tale1918 snout1923 talk1924 fink1925 scream1925 sarbut1928 grass1929 to turn over1967 dime1970 1839 W. Carleton Fardorougha (1848) xi. 161 But to stag against his companion and accomplice—this was looked upon as a crime. a1849 J. Keegan Legends & Poems (1907) 380 She imagines that I played foul at New Ross,—that I stagged and betrayed as well as deserted. d. (See quot. 1860.) ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > poverty > mendicancy > beg or be beggar [verb (intransitive)] thigc1300 begc1384 crave1393 to go a-begged1393 prowl1530 to go (or have been) a begging1535 maund?1536 to bear the wallet1546 cant1567 prog1579 to turn to bag and wallet1582 skelder1602 maunder1611 strike1618 emendicate1623 mendicate1623 to go a-gooding1646 mump1685 shool1736 cadge1819 to stand pad1841 stag1860 bum1870 schnorr1875 panhandle1894 pling1915 stem1924 nickel-and-dime1942 1860 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang (ed. 2) Stag, to demand money, to ‘cadge’... Also, to dun, or demand payment. 2. Commerce slang. a. To deal in shares as a stag (see stag n.¹ 8). ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > deal in stocks and shares [verb (intransitive)] > specific operations soften1565 to get out1728 bear1837 to rig the (stock) market1841 stag1845 cornera1860 to straddle the market1870 raid1889 to make a market1899 to job backwards1907 to mark to (the) market1925 short1959 daisy-chain1979 to pitch for ——1983 1845 W. M. Thackeray in Punch 9 191 What! are ladies stagging it? 1845 [see stagging adj. at Derivatives]. 1905 [see stagging n. at Derivatives]. b. transitive. To deal in (shares) as a stag. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > deal in stocks and shares [verb (transitive)] > specific operations subscribe1618 to take up1655 to sell out1721 to take in1721 to take up1740 pool?1780 capitalize1797 put1814 feed1818 to vote (the) stock (or shares)1819 corner1836 to sell short1852 promote1853 recapitalize1856 refund1857 float1865 water1865 margin1870 unload1870 acquire1877 maintain1881 syndicate1882 scalp1886 pyramid1888 underwrite1889 oversubscribe1891 joint-stock1894 wash1895 write1908 mark1911 split1927 marry1931 stag1935 unwind1958 short1959 preplace1966 unitize1970 bed and breakfast1974 index-link1974 warehouse1977 daisy-chain1979 strip1981 greenmail1984 pull1986 1935 Times 27 Nov. 19/2 The loan was heavily stagged, for the total applications exceeded £14,000,000. 1966 New Statesman 23 Sept. 456/3 The gilt-edged market has now improved to the point where the new issue of ICI loan stock seems likely to be stagged even more heavily than the last. 1981 Daily Tel. 20 July 15/2 The offer is likely to be subscribed although the opportunities for stagging the issue will be limited. 3. dialect. (See quot. 1854 Cf. stag-headed adj.) ΚΠ 1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants. Words II. 289 Stag, to take off the top of a hedge without laying it down. 4. intransitive. To go to or attend a social occasion unaccompanied. Also const. it. U.S. slang. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > social event > [verb (intransitive)] > participate in social events > as unaccompanied male stag1900 1900 Dial. Notes 2 64 To stag it, to go to a party without escorting a lady. 1941 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 10 May 74/3 If you won't go with me to the picnic, I'll stag. 1973 Lebende Sprachen 18 38/1 He had planned to stag at the class dance. 5. transitive. To cut (trousers or other articles of clothing) off short. Also with off. North American. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > tailor or make clothes [verb (transitive)] > other fur13.. buttonc1380 lashc1440 pointa1470 set1530 tuft1535 vent1547 ruff1548 spangle1548 string1548 superbody1552 to pull out1553 quilt1555 flute1578 seam1590 seed1604 overtrim1622 ruffle1625 tag1627 furbelow1701 tuck1709 flounce1711 pipe1841 skirt1848 ruche1855 pouch1897 panel1901 stag1902 create1908 pin-fit1926 ease1932 pre-board1940 post-board1963 1902 [see stagged adj. at Derivatives]. 1905 Terms Forestry & Logging (Bull. U.S. Dept. Agric., Bureau Forestry, No. 61) 49 Stag, to cut off trousers at the knee, or boots at the ankle. 1942 L. D. Rich We took to Woods vii. 188 One stags one's pants, one's shirt sleeves, anything that needs to be abbreviated quickly, even one's hair. 1953 R. Moon This is Saskatchewan 215 They [sc. the lumberjacks] wore pants stagged off or rolled half way to the knee so as not to be confused with mere city dwellers. 1972 Islander (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 30 Apr. 16/1 He was always dressed in the same way..heavy..underwear, tin pants stagged to the proper working length. Derivatives stagged adj. (of trousers) cut off short; also with off. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for legs > clothing for legs and lower body > [adjective] > trousers > types of un-codpieced1580 canioned1607 braceless1859 bell-bottom1882 broad-beamed1883 kneed1887 bell-bottomed1891 fall-front1899 stagged1902 pegged1905 pedal pusher1912 pipestem1915 drainpipe1930 chino1943 anti-g1945 low-rise1948 cuffless1957 low-riding1958 hip-hugging1968 plus twos1977 1902 S. E. White Blazed Trail xxvii. 190 A gigantic young riverman in the conventional stagged (i.e. chopped off) trousers. 1933 E. Hemingway Winner take Nothing 29 He wore stagged trousers and lumbermen's rubbers and a mackinaw shirt. 1956 H. S. M. Kemp Northern Trader 114 He had the mackinaw shirt and stagged-off pants, [etc.]. ˈstagging n. North American ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [noun] > specific operations or arrangements > share-buying activities subscribing1762 flyer1846 bearing1849 stagging1851 take-up1865 bear covering1881 straddle1883 portfolio investment1929 short covering1930 support buying1932 foreign portfolio investment1951 corporate raiding1957 leveraged1957 tender offer1964 buy-in1968 management buyout1977 bought deal1981 greenmail1983 MBO1986 bimbo1991 1851 C. Kingsley Yeast ii The Stock-Exchange and railway stagging,..and the frantic Mammon-hunting. 1905 A. I. Shand Days of Past ix. 162 Everything went automatically to a premium, and systematic stagging was a profitable business. ˈstagging adj. North American ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [adjective] > types of dealer stagging1845 short1849 weak1875 bearing1883 ursine1899 knifey1937 over-bullish1970 1845 W. M. Thackeray in Punch 9 191 Her appearance created quite a sensation among the stagging gents. 1905 Daily Chron. 13 July 5/6 A peculiarity of the applications is the enormous number of them for £100. A great many of these are obviously of the ‘stagging’ order. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1915; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.¹?c1185n.²1776n.³1688adj.1545v.¹1561v.²1610v.³1796
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stagn.1

Compounds

Draft additions June 2016

Draft additions June 2016

stagn.2

stagn.3

† stagadj.

stagv.1

† stagv.2

stagv.3

Derivatives

stagn.¹

stagn.²

stagn.³

stagv.¹

† stagv.²

stagv.³