Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An ornamental drapery or curtain draped in a curve between two points.
- n. An ornamental festoon of flowers or fruit.
- n. A carving or plaster molding of such an ornament.
- n. Promotional items, especially when given for free, considered as a group.
- n. Slang Stolen property; loot.
- n. Australian The pack or bundle containing the personal belongings of a swagman.
- n. Slang Herbal tea in a plastic sandwich bag sold as marijuana to an unsuspecting customer.
- v. Chiefly British To lurch or sway.
- v. Australian To travel about with a pack or swag.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To sink down by its weight; lean; sag.
- To move as something heavy and pendent; sway.
- n. An unequal, hobbling motion.
- n. Same as swale, 2.
- n. A bundle; the package or roll containing the possessions of a swagman.
- n. A festoon. See the quotation.
- n. In decorative art, an irregular or informal cluster: as, a swag of flowers in the engraved decoration of a piece of plate.
- n. In coalmining, a subsidence of the roof, in consequence of the working away of the coal: same as weighting.
- n. A large quantity: a lot; hence, plundered property; booty; boodle.
- To tramp about in search of work, carrying one's swag. See swagman, 2.
Wiktionary
- n. A burglar's or thief's booty; a boodle.
- n. a bushmans' possessions tied up in a blanket and carried over the shoulder on a long stick.
- n. A large quantity (of something).
- n. Handouts, freebies, or giveaways, such as those handed out at conventions.
- n. Alternative capitalization of 1: a wild guess or ballpark estimate.
- n. A loop of draped fabric
- n. A low point or depression in land; especially, a place where water collects.
- v. To sway or cause to sway
- v. To droop
- v. To decorate (something) with swags
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To hang or move, as something loose and heavy; to sway; to swing.
- v. To sink down by its weight; to sag.
- v. To tramp carrying a swag.
- n. A swaying, irregular motion.
- n. A burglar's or thief's booty; boodle.
- n. A tramping bushman's luggage, rolled up either in canvas or in a blanket so as to form a long bundle, and carried on the back or over the shoulder; -- called also a
bluey , or adrum . - n. Any bundle of luggage similarly rolled up; hence, luggage in general.
WordNet 3.0
- n. valuable goods
- n. a bundle containing the personal belongings of a swagman
- v. walk as if unable to control one's movements
- v. droop, sink, or settle from or as if from pressure or loss of tautness
- v. sway heavily or unsteadily
- n. goods or money obtained illegally
Etymologies
- Probably of Scandinavian origin.
Examples
“So heres my swag of how many people attend a party yesterday all over the country. my swag is 110000 total. fox/saudi/hate radio guesstimate with my BS filter of 10. 10million.”
“Marketed as a healthier alternative to smoking and a potential way to kick the habit, the smokeless smokes have been distributed in swag bags at the British film awards and hawked at an international trade show.”
“Free crap for shrinks - swag from a psychiatric trade-show - Boing ...”
“All that being said, the swag is great and running through the streets of "Gotham" was an exciting experience.”
Citizens For Batman - Live Chicago and New York Meet-Ups! Updated! « FirstShowing.net
“An interesting bit of commentary on this … I wonder if they used that Harvey Dent rally event a few months ago … where you met up at various locations to get free swag from the touring Dentmobile … to judge what 12 locations would be the biggest/best.”
It's All Part of the Plan - The Dark Knight Trailer Hunt on Monday! « FirstShowing.net
“` ` Every time we play them they have this certain swag to them that they can just beat us, '' said Stevenson, who exchanged his share of trash-talk during the game.”
““The GRAMMY gifts have become legendary … the gold standard by which swag is measured,” says Lash Fary, CEO of Distinctive Assets.”
Distinctive Assets Rocks the GRAMMY?s with the Official Talent Lounge and Gift Bag
““The GRAMMY gifts have become legendary ... the gold standard by which swag is measured,” says Lash Fary, CEO of Distinctive Assets.”
Distinctive Assets Set to Rock the GRAMMY Talent Lounge and Gift Bag
“The dance was dubbed the "swag dance," according to Britain's Sky News, and was inspired by a discussion about the prince's attire at his wedding in April.”
“And I think the word swag has run its course because what's a word that people still say that they said from back then?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘swag’.
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Topical
The buzzwords of our time
actionable, administrivia, advermation, agreeance, backbone provider, back-sourcing, baked in, bandwidth, barn raising, Barneyware, belly-buttons, Below Zeros and 840 more...
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Public List: Two by Fives
This is an experiment in public lists--something I've been thinking about for some time. The goal is to create a collection of short, powerful, evocative words.
This is an open list. A...icy, howl, hymn, thorn, fire, vile, mist, blunt, scum, dark, shot, gleam and 137 more...
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[Open] Infrequentative
Non-frequentative verbs which also have a frequentative form (which you may add to the list “Frequentative”, if you like)
Examples include bob (bobble), busk (bustle), dab (dabble), ho...hove, stut, wag, dab, dart, spouse, sault, prate, swag, visé, cater, nose and 33 more...
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Words on tumblr
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Dope Words

nfriedman There are many Urban Dictionary entries for "swag," most having to do with promotional merchandise distributed at concerts, trade shows, conferences, and awards shows. Probably related to older definition of "loot"; attempts at backronyms (Stuff We Are Given, Shit We All Get) are almost certainly spurious. Secondary Urban Dictionary definition--"the way one carries oneself"--may derive from "swagger." Jun 7, 2009
qroqqa She saw signs, and chilled as she saw them, of certain swags under her chin, if not yet reality, then certainly warning.
—Dorothy Parker, 'The Bolt behind the Blue'
Note also unusual intransitive use of 'chill'. Nov 12, 2008
oroboros See boodle. Jan 16, 2008
seanahan Stuff(sh!t) We All Get. Sep 28, 2007