In the bag

Certain to succeed or be secured, wrapped up like game bagged by a hunter-no doubt left, just waiting to claim it.

From 17th-century England, tied to hunting; game 'in the bag' was caught, as in a 1620 text on bagged fowl. By the 20th century, it hit slang, as in a 1919 baseball report on a 'game in the bag. ' Possibly boosted by 1920s politics-votes 'bagged'-it reflects a rural root and modern clinch, growing into a snappy idiom of assurance.