bag wig

plural bag wigs

1. historicalAn 18th-century wig, the back-hair of which was enclosed in an ornamental bag.

   "My advice," he said, "is this: try the case without the Judge; or, in other words, assume the legal functions of this defaulting personage in the bag-wig who is at present engaged in distending himself illegally with our Puddin'."

   1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 151

   1 more example

   We conversed in a low tone because a full-dressed gentleman in a bag wig frequently came in and out, and when he did so, we could hear a drawling sound in the distance, which he said was one of the counsel in our case addressing the Lord Chancellor.

   1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC