cabbage together

[Joel S. Berson]

"Cabbage together" is not in the OED, but ought to be.

I agree on the meaning, but have only one thought
about the origin.  Perhaps from "cabbage, v.2." --
     "c. Schoolboy slang. = To crib,
cab."  Dating from 1837.  (Arising from "a. orig.
said of a tailor appropriating part of the cloth
given to him to make up into garments.")

Pieces are "stolen" from various places to cobble
(v.1) something together?  (But, unlike Arnold, I
don't suggest it's an eggcorn.)

Joel

At 5/4/2011 10:59 AM, Alice Faber wrote:
>A request from one of my sister's colleagues:
>
>>On [one of our] teleconference ... a speaker said
>>that he had “cabbaged together” some information

 can you or your
>>sister track that one down? We were flummoxed. We did find a single
>>reference to it on a vintage mustang blog ­ a person from West Virginia
>>wrote in that he had “cabbaged together” an intake manifold
..
>
>My google search was slightly more productive, returning 124 hits on
>"cabbaged together" ("cabbage together" gives recipes and food blogs!).
>The meaning appears to be something akin to "jerry-rigged".
>
>Any ideas?
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org