Cabbaged

Posted by James Briggs on January 31, 2005

In Reply to: Cabbaged posted by ESC on January 31, 2005

: : Does anyone know where the word 'cabbaged' came from?

: There's a country (West Virginia) saying about someone cabbaging on to something. "I left my magazine here and somebody cabbaged on to it." This reference says it means "to pilfer, steal. Latch on to." But it doesn't have an origin. "Dictionary of American Regional English," Volume II by Frederic G. Cassidy and Joan Houston Hall (1991, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and London, England).

It's also recorded in this sense - among many others - in my 1948 American Thesaurus of Slang. No origin, I'm afraid. It was also slang for 'cheat'.

• Cabbaged Word Camel 31/January/05
  • Cabbaged - 1811 use James Briggs 01/February/05
    • Cabbaged - 1811 use Matt 25/February/05