noun
wastebasket; wastepaper basket
Archaic term for a basket used to collect wastepaper, especially in historical or literary settings. Not used in modern Japanese; the common modern word is くずかご.
江戸時代の商家では、反故籠に書き損じの紙を入れていた。
In merchant houses of the Edo period, they put spoiled writing paper into the wastepaper basket.
Compound of 反故 (hogo, 'wastepaper') and 籠 (kago, 'basket'). The reading ほぐ is a historical voiced variant of ほご. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the term is attested in Edo-period texts.