Link Centre Dictionary

handbag

hand·bag

UK/ˈhændˌbæɡ/ US/ˈhæm.bəɡ/ fairly common uk

noun

1.

a bag used for carrying money and small personal items or accessories (especially by women)

  • “she reached into her bag and found a comb”

Origin

From hand + bag. The music genre is named from women dancing around a pile of their handbags in nightclubs. The verb is a reference to Margaret Thatcher's handbag.

Phrases

  • bachelor's handbag
  • handbag clip
  • handbags at dawn
  • I lost my handbag
  • smell like a tart's handbag
  • social handbag

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.