| 释义 |
green bag, green-bag
A bag made of green material such as was used formerly (the colour being now blue) by barristers and lawyers for documents and papers. Also attrib. †b. Hence slang (hyphened and stressed ˈgreen-bag), a lawyer.
1677Wycherley Plain Dealer iii. i, You Green Bag Carrier, you Murderer of unfortunate Causes, the Clerks Ink is scarce off of your fingers. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Green-bag, a Lawyer. 1712Arbuthnot John Bull ii. iii, I am told, Cousin Diego, you are one of those that have under⁓taken to manage me, and that you have said you will carry a Green Bag your self, rather than we shall make an end of our Law-Suit. 1817Cobbett Pol. Reg. 8 Feb. 181 There is a green bag full of papers..laid before Parliament. 1817Parl. Deb. 1866 When green bags were introduced by the noble lord opposite, they were..referred to committees. 1885Brewer Reader's Handbk., Green-Bag Inquiry. A green bag full of documents, said to be seditious, was laid before parliament by lord Sidmouth, in 1817. An ‘inquiry’ was made into these documents, and it was deemed advisable to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act. 1897Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang s.v., ‘What's in the green bag?’ i.e., what is the charge to be preferred against me? |