Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A woman's purse.
- n. A piece of small hand luggage.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- A bag for small articles, carried in the hand in traveling or shopping.
Wiktionary
- n. A small bag used by women (or sometimes by men) for carrying various small personal items.
- n. uncountable An anthemic subgenre of house music of the late 1980s, often with booming vocals.
- v. UK (transitive, humorous) Figuratively, to hit with a handbag; to attack verbally or subject to criticism (used originally of Margaret Thatcher).
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. a satchel; a small bag for carrying books, papers, parcels, etc.
- n. a small bag usually made of cloth, leather or a similar imitation material, and often having a strap to permit carrying it by slinging it over a shoulder, used by women to carry money and small personal items or accessories.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a container used for carrying money and small personal items or accessories (especially by women)
Etymologies
- hand + bag. The music genre is named from women dancing around a pile of their handbags in nightclubs. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Jenny, on the term handbag versus purse or bag, you might be interested in this.”
Special Bonus Post for the Carnival of Shopping - A Dress A Day
“Why are my novels in alphabetical order, when my handbag is a disaster zone?”
“The purse or handbag is much more than a holder for necessities.”
“Before opening her eyes she feels to make sure her handbag is still buttoned safely within her overcoat.”
“Though a trendy handbag is a fun choice for, say, an evening out, an everyday bag that meets your everyday needs is a wardrobe must.”
Think Progress » Virginians Buck Far-Right Policies Of McDonnell And Cuccinelli
“Though a trendy handbag is a fun choice for, say, an evening out, an everyday bag that meets your everyday needs is a wardrobe must”
“Tomas Maier, the creative director for Italy's Bottega Veneta, has come up with the antithesis of the fashion-label handbag: a seamless, logo-free limited-edition tote.”
“It was just the sort of thing she would have tucked away in some pocket of the enormous holdall she called her handbag, that held everything from her purse and essential papers like ration-book and identity card, along with her pills and her spectacles and her knitting and her prayer book, and other necessities of her life.”
“The thief, from the northern region of Liguria, stole a handbag from a Korean family when they were not paying attention.”
“She once escaped death after being seized by soldiers who claimed that a tape in her handbag was a smuggled taperecording of Patrice Lumumba, one of the Congo's new leaders, who was then in jail, calling on his people to rise up.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘handbag’.
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Handy Words
List of words and phrases referring to the hand, hands, fist, or derivatives of the Latin manus, beginning with left-handed.
left-handed, double-fisted, fisticuffs, handy, right-handed, two-handed, manual, manumission, manuscript, manually, manustupration, manudiction and 164 more...
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Containers
Stuff that holds other stuff.
cardboard box, jar, filing cabinet, safe deposit box, cupboard, wardrobe, jewel case, briefcase, locker, canopic jar, chest of drawers, paper sack and 208 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
abaca, abdominal, abrasive, absorbent, absorber, accelerator, accessory, account book, accumulator, acebutolol, acetaldehyde, acetamide and 4515 more...
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colleen's words
yellow, green, pie, blue, fur, people, incense, book, brown, avuncular, mountain, fog and 1316 more...
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Bags baby, bags
Bags, bags, bags
They're very useful things
If we didn't have bags
What would we use
To put all our things in.backpack, satchel, haversack, shopping, messenger, calico, duffel, burlap sack, tea, handbag, briefcase, sleeping and 5 more...
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Bags of Holding
duffel, backpack, purse, bindle, briefcase, fanny pack, messenger bag, satchel, suitcase, tote, manbag, murse and 14 more...
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handie
handy compounds
beforehand, hamhanded, freehand, handicraft, handmade, handheld, handfull, handiwork, handsew, handmaid, handpicked, panhandle and 42 more...
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BBC Upgrades Flap To Row
The Onion (November 9, 2007)
flap, row, parliament, conservative, lord, speaker, fortnight, old, handbag, proper, barney, eppy and 16 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for handbag.
colleen see also brick Jul 20, 2007