To bag school

[Chicken Sandwich]

How about this? Why don't you just bag school and we'll go catch a movie.

Bag is defined as (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English):

bag 2 verb ( past tense and past participle bagged , present participle bagging ) [ transitive ]

1 to put things into bags : He got a job bagging groceries.

2 informal to manage to get something that a lot of people want : Try to bag a couple of seats at the front.

3 British English informal to score a goal or a point in sport : Larsson bagged his thirtieth goal of the season in Celtic’s win.

4 especially British English informal to kill or catch an animal or bird : We bagged a rabbit.

5 be bagged and zip-tied if prisoners are bagged and zip-tied, bags are put over their heads and their hands are tied together
bag something ↔ up phrasal verb especially British English
to put things into bags : We bagged up the money before we closed the shop.

To bag school here means "to skip school". But home come this meaning isn't in the dictionary? Isn't this a non-standard way to say to skip school? Or is this American slang?

[bhaisahab]

Bag is defined as (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English):



To bag school here means "to skip school". But home come this meaning isn't in the dictionary? Isn't this a non-standard way to say to skip school? Or is this American slang?

Perhaps it's American, I've never met with it.

[emsr2d2]

I've never heard it used this way either.

In BrE, we "bunk off", "play truant from" or "skip" school if we take a day off without permission.

[Barb_D]

We bag all sorts of things: let's bag the party, he bagged school, I can't believe he bagged that meeting.

[Hedwig]

I've never heard it used this way either.

In BrE, we "bunk off", "play truant from" or "skip" school if we take a day off without permission.

And what about 'skive off'. Do you skive off school, a lesson, homework?

[emsr2d2]

And what about 'skive off'. Do you skive off school, a lesson, homework?

Ah yes! I'd forgotten to "skive off". That would apply to school but not to homework because it means "to stay away without permission" not "to not do".

It has a double meaning for work. It can mean to stay away without permission but it can also mean that someone is present at work but is just not actually doing any work, resulting in their being called a "skiver".

[Ouisch]

"Bag" is used in AmE slang to mean "skip, avoid, get rid of, dispose of, conceal". The use of that word in that way gained popularity after Moon Zappa's "Valley Girl" became a hit: "Like, ohmigod, like totally....like I went to have my toenails done and the girl was totally grossed out and said like 'bag those toenails'.....I was at this party and this guy called me a 'beast' and was all like 'bag your face'......"

Obviously, very much a slang phrase.

[Chicken Sandwich]

Thanks. I couldn't find this definition in NTC’s Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions so if it weren't for this forum, I'd be lost! (Even though it was obvious from the context that the person was referring to "skipping school"...)

[Mehrgan]

I've never heard it used this way either.

In BrE, we "bunk off", "play truant from" or "skip" school if we take a day off without permission.

Has any of the verbs you mentioned got the same sense as 'slope off', which I think refers to the situation when one covertly leaves school or work to avoid work or something?


Thanks for all those terms!

[emsr2d2]

Has any of the verbs you mentioned got the same sense as 'slope off', which I think refers to the situation when one covertly leaves school or work to avoid work or something?


Thanks for all those terms!

You can "slope off" from anything - work, school, a party, a meeting etc. It just means to leave quietly and, as you said, covertly so that no-one notices you leave.