in the bag
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
See them in their toy - filled Kensington town house and you would assume they are a family for whom everything falls effortlessly into place — until you remember John's surprise defeat in the April election.
This way she could simply wash it each morning and let it dry naturally — start trying for styles and valuable minutes had to be wasted keeping them the way they were meant to be.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “in the bag” mean?
Secured.
Is “in the bag” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.