black-bag
See also: black bag
English
Etymology
From the term black bag meaning a case containing burglary tools.
Alternative forms
Adjective
black-bag (not comparable)
- Involving sophisticated clandestine methods for gaining unauthorized entry and obtaining information.
- 2011, Jerry Ahern, Decision Time: The Defender, →ISBN:
- Holden's SEAL training had covered clandestine penetrations, but never black-bag jobs
- 2012, Paul Lieberman, Gangster Squad: Covert Cops, the Mob, and the Battle for Los Angeles, →ISBN:
- Con Keeler was past his fortieth birthday and a veteran of more black-bag jobs than he could count.
- 2015, James Wynbrandt, The Excruciating History of Dentistry, →ISBN:
- In an interesting coda that perhaps presaged the black-bag jobs of the Watergate era, an unknown person or persons broke into Dr. Parr's office on New York's Forty-second street in 1926, gained access to the safe, and stole President Grant's, Mrs. Grant's, and President Chester Arthur's dentures.
- Watergate turned out to be a black-bag operation by former CIA employees.
Verb
black-bag (third-person singular simple present black-bags, present participle black-bagging, simple past and past participle black-bagged)
- To break in to a place without authorization as part of a clandestine operation.
- 2004, Loren D. Estleman, Poison Blonde: An Amos Walker Novel, →ISBN:
- He'd been tapped, bugged, and black-bagged under Nixon and Clinton, and under the present conditions all the cops needed to listen in was a thumbs-up from an Eagle Scout or better.
- 2011, Adrian Phoenix, J. F. Lewis, Jeri Smith-Ready, Urban Fantasy Collection, →ISBN:
- Nothing jimmied. Nothing damaged. She'd been black-bagged by a pro.
- 2011, Harlan Coben (Ed.), The Best American Mystery Stories 2011:
- Before dawn, NEST black-bagged Ivan's building — not the Nuclear Emergency Search Teams, their shadows whose S stands for Strike. They pulled all hazmat out of the medical imaging office, substituted fake material, and broke the machines so nobody will wonder when they don't work.
- To kidnap in order to make someone disappear (as opposed to kidnapping for ransom).
- 2016, S.M. Reine, Once Darkness Falls:
- When witches and demons caused enough trouble, the Union had a tendency to black-bag the baddies and toss them into a detention center.
- 2017, Scott Reardon, The Prometheus Man, →ISBN:
- It'll be tough to black-bag him. They may have to go all the way.