in the bag

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in the bag

1. (slang, of a desirable thing) Certain or extremely likely to occur.

   Near-synonyms: assured, cinched, guaranteed, on ice, inevitable

   3-0 up with 5 minutes to go...we've got the win in the bag.

   • 1954, Charles Percy Snow, The New Men, published 2001, →ISBN, page 61:

     "We mustn't count our eggs before they're hatched, but I think it's in the bag," he said.

2. (slang) Intoxicated; drunk.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:drunk

   • 1984, Stephen King, Gramma:

     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.

   • 2004, Les Visible, The Dark Splendour, →ISBN, page 97:

     "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."

(certain or very likely):

• “in the bag”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• be a thing, beathing