Meaning
A betrayer — someone who sells out or informs on the very people who trusted them. In Jamaican lore, 'Bag-a-Wire' was a man remembered for betraying the national hero Marcus Garvey, and his name passed into the language as a byword for a traitor and an informer. To be called a bag-o-wire is to be branded the lowest kind of turncoat, and the word carries the deep Jamaican contempt for the sell-out and the 'informer', those who break faith with their own for their own gain.
Examples
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Watch dat one — him a bag-o-wire, him will sell yuh out.
Watch that one — he's a traitor, he'll sell you out.
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A bag-o-wire carry di news go tell dem.
A betrayer carried the news and told them.
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Nobody nuh trust a bag-o-wire.
Nobody trusts a sell-out.
Origin
From Jamaican oral history: 'Bag-a-Wire' is remembered as the man who betrayed Marcus Garvey and later fell into ruin — his name entered the language as the word for a traitor or informer.
How it’s used
A strong term for a betrayer or informer, rooted in Jamaican historical memory. See [[garvey]].