Handbag

Quick meaning: Handbag is a noun meaning (now rare) A small bag carried in the hand, used either when travelling or to carry tools for a specific job.

Meaning

(now rare) A small bag carried in the hand, used either when travelling or to carry tools for a specific job.

More Meanings

1. (uncountable, music) Ellipsis of handbag house.
2. (British, transitive, idiomatic, humorous, metonymic) To attack verbally or subject to criticism (typically used of a woman).
3. (chiefly Commonwealth) A small bag used chiefly by women for carrying various small personal items, sometimes considered as a fashion accessory.

Example Sentences

From a little hand-bag he extracted his automatic pistol, which he put upon the mantelpiece.

An enormous amount of off-book money sloshes around Chinese business and officialdom, and some of it runs into handbags.

I put on my new suit and put my watch on and packed the other suit and the accessories and my razor and brushes in my hand bag […].

‘Apparently Birt happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time on Sunday afternoon. Virginia saw him and handbagged him. She really was very cross.’

Word Forms

• handbags
• handbagging
• handbagged

Synonyms for handbag

Depending on context, synonyms include purse, bag, pocketbook.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include purse, pocketbook, bag, pouch, sack, rucksack.

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