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backcheat, stolen apparel, lit. things from the back. (Thieves’ cant.) ‘Back or belly-cheats’, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Higgen). See ssss1.

backrag, the name of a wine. Shirley, Lady of Pleasure, v. 1 (Bornwell); Mayne, City Match, i. 3 (near the end). See ssss1.

backside, a yard behind a farmhouse. Witch of Edmonton, iv. 1 (Old Banks). Very common in prov. usage, see EDD. (s.v. Backside, 2).

badger-nab, a strong little badger. ‘Meg [a witch] What Beast was by thee hither rid? Mawd [second witch] A Badger-nab’, Heywood, Witches of Lancs., iv. 1, vol. iv. p. 220. Cp. knab, a strong boy, a thickset, strong little animal (EDD.).

baffle, to treat with ignominy and contempt. It was originally a punishment inflicted on recreant knights, one part of it being that the victim was hung up by the heels and beaten. See Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 27; Beaumont and Fl., A King and no King, iii. 2 (Bessus); 1 Hen. IV, i. 2. 113; Richard II, i. 1. 170. See Trench, Select Glossary, and NED.

bag: phr. to give the bag, to cheat. Westward Ho, iv. 2 (Honeysuckle).