Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A fox kept in confinement, and slipped from a bag when no other game for a hunt can be had.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • It was a bag-fox day, I believe: that is, the hunt was provided with a trapped animal, brought upon the ground in a sack and let out when the proper time came, -- a process known in sporting parlance as "shaking a fox."

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 41, March, 1861 Various

  • Kinglake used to say that in conceding the right of the Sultan to exclude any war-flag from the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, Russia was treating Turkey as a bag-fox, to be gently hunted occasionally, but not mangled or killed; and he felt keenly the ridicule resting on the allies, who were compelled to surrender the neutralization purchased at the cost of so much blood and treasure.

    Biographical Study of A W Kinglake Tuckwell, Rev W 1902

  • To add zest to the chase, Clem now let Looney slip as a kind of bag-fox, and the half-witted creature went lumbering and blubbering about in real terror of his life, whilst his pursuers encouraged his speed with artifices in which the animated spinnies and coverts deferentially joined.

    Essays in Rebellion Henry W. Nevinson 1900

  • Dardanelles, Russia was treating Turkey as a bag-fox, to be gently hunted occasionally, but not mangled or killed; and he felt keenly the ridicule resting on the allies, who were compelled to surrender the neutralization purchased at the cost of so much blood and treasure.

    Biographical Study of A.W. Kinglake William Tuckwell 1874

  • Hardington road, hedge-rows ceased, and they came upon Farleyfair Downs, across which Mr. Watchorn now struck, making for a square plantation, near the first hill-top, where it had been arranged the bag-fox should be shook.

    Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour Robert Smith Surtees 1833

  • Jawleyford was a great patron of the chase; and his keeper, Watson, always had a bag-fox ready to turn down when my lord's hounds met there.

    Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour Robert Smith Surtees 1833

  • "No," replied Davoren; "he, too, has disappeared; and although he is hunted like a bag-fox, nobody can find either hilt or hair of him."

    The Evil Eye; Or, The Black Spector The Works of William Carleton, Volume One William Carleton 1831

  • They found the bag-fox, and had a tolerable run; but when they killed him, not a hound would eat him!

    Anecdotes of Dogs Edward Jesse 1824

  • 'Do you think,' said he, 'I will allow my hounds to hunt a bag-fox?

    Anecdotes of Dogs Edward Jesse 1824

  • But whatever you do, never turn out a bag-fox; it is injurious to your hounds, and makes them wild and unsteady: besides, nothing is more despicable, or held in greater contempt by real sportsmen, than the practice of hunting bag-foxes.

    Anecdotes of Dogs Edward Jesse 1824

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