Meanings
- idiomaticslangOf a desirable thing, certain or extremely likely to occur.
3-0 up with 5 minutes to go...we've got the win in the bag.
3 more examples
Near-synonyms: assured, cinched, guaranteed, on ice, inevitable
"We mustn't count our eggs before they're hatched, but I think it's in the bag," he said.
1954, Charles Percy Snow, The New Men, published 2001, →ISBN, page 61At the turn of this century it was still widely believed that electromagnetic phenomena (such as electric charge and magnetic attraction) were just an unusually subtle manifestation of purely mechanical phenomena. Some scientists thought that a reduction of electromagnetics to mechanics was more or less in the bag.
1986, Paul M. Churchland, Matter and Consciousness, Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England: The MIT Press, →ISBN, pages 12-13Synonyms: assured, cinched, guaranteed, on ice, inevitable
- idiomaticslangIntoxicated; drunk.
"It's like the way it is for an alcoholic when he can't get a drink.... He bumps into more things now than he did when he was in the bag."
2004, Les Visible, The Dark Splendour, →ISBN, page 971 more example
His wife and his three girls had gone over to Gates Falls to do some last-minute Christmas shopping, and Uncle George was pretty much in the bag, just like the Drunk Man Who Had to Go to Jail.
1984, Stephen King, Gramma
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseOf a desirable thing, certain or extremely likely to occur.
Translations
Bulgarian в къ́рпа въ́рзано
- в къ́рпа въ́рзано (v kắrpa vắrzano)certain or extremely likely to occur
French dans le sac, dans la poche
- dans le saccertain or extremely likely to occur
- dans la pochecertain or extremely likely to occur
Hebrew בכיס
- בכיסcertain or extremely likely to occur
Italian in tasca
- in tascacertain or extremely likely to occur
Polish na bank, na bani
- na bankcertain or extremely likely to occur
- na banidrunk
Spanish a cosa hecha
- a cosa hechacertain or extremely likely to occur
Turkish cepte, çantada keklik
- ceptecertain or extremely likely to occur
- çantada keklikcertain or extremely likely to occur
Cite this entry
in the bag. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20bag
“in the bag.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20bag. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in the bag,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20bag.
Source: in the bag on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.