English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From bag +‎ -y (adjectival suffix).

Adjective

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baggy (comparative baggier, superlative baggiest)

  1. Of clothing, very loose-fitting, so as to hang away from the body.
    Synonyms: loose, saggy; see also Thesaurus:loose-fitting
    • 2002 January 29, Suzy Menkes, “PARIS FASHION : Wind of Change:New Formality With a Rugged Edge”, in The New York Times[1]:
      When the YSL designer finally got to present Sunday, after the show tent pitched on a race course had been deemed unsafe, he had a surprise in store: the longest, bell-bottom pants since the start of the 1970s — and the baggiest since rapper chic.
    • 2013 September 14, Steven Kurutz, “Caught in the Hipster Trap”, in The New York Times[2]:
      The only way to safely avoid looking like a hipster, so far as I can tell, is to dress in oversize mesh jerseys bearing the logos of sports teams. Or to wear the blandest, baggiest, beige-est clothes possible, like a middle-aged tourist.
    • 2024 March 3, Jonah Weiner, “Why Are Pants So Big (Again)?”, in The New York Times Magazine[3]:
      He’d made some of the company’s baggiest-ever pants in response, and even baggier ones were in the works.
  2. (music) Of or relating to a British music genre of the 1980s and 1990s, influenced by Madchester and psychedelia and associated with baggy clothing.
    • 2011 October 18, Jon Savage, “Stone Roses reunion: three baggy playlists”, in The Guardian[4]:
      Pop historian Jon Savage listens to the best of the Stone Roses and their contemporaries – from Baby Ford to the Sabres of Paradise – and creates the perfect set of baggy playlists
    • 2015 October 1, Tshepo Mokoena, “Swim Deep: Mothers review – baggy indie kids embrace psych-pop”, in The Guardian[5]:
      The Birmingham band – now a five-piece after multi-instrumentalist James Balmont joined them – have ditched the loose and baggy guitar pop of 2013’s Where the Heaven Are We? in favour of psych-pop that contorts itself into pulsing Balearic acid house and motorik rhythms.
  3. (figurative) Of writing, etc.: overwrought; flabby; having too much padding.
    a baggy book
Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • French: baggy
Translations
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Noun

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baggy (plural baggies)

  1. (UK) A member of the 1980/90s British music and fashion movement.
    • 1990, “Kinky Afro”, in Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches, performed by Happy Mondays:
      I said dad you're a shabby / You run around and groove like a baggy / You're only here just out of habit

Etymology 2

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Presumably a back-formation from baggies (the plural), presumably a genericization of the brand name Baggies. Also analyzable as bag +‎ -y (diminutive suffix).

Alternative forms

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Noun

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baggy (plural baggies)

  1. A small plastic bag, as for sandwiches.
    • 2008 March 6, Kristen Hinmen, "News Real: Seeing Red", Riverfront Times volume 32 number 10, page 10,
      In an accompanying affidavit, Apazeller reported that Onstott "has entered the kitchen with a handful of cocaine and asked for a plastic baggy."
  2. Such a bag filled with marijuana.
Usage notes
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  • In British and Canadian colloquial usage (from at least the early 1980s) this especially applies to small self-sealing sandwich or freezer bags used for illicit purposes.

See also

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French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English baggy.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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baggy (plural baggys)

  1. baggy

Noun

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baggy m (plural baggys)

  1. Loose-fitting trousers