Meaning & use
bag
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Meanings
nouncountable
A soft container of paper, plastic, cloth or leather, open at the top or fastened shut, used for carrying or storing things.
Grammar: Countable: a bag, two bags. Also used for the amount held: a bag of flour.
Patterns
- a bag of something
- a bag for something
She packed a small bag and caught the early train.
Please put your wet umbrella in a plastic bag.
He carried a bag of oranges home from the market.
verbtransitive
To put things into a bag, usually in a shop or while packing.
Grammar: Takes an object: bag the groceries. Often used with up.
Patterns
- bag something
- bag something up
The cashier bagged our groceries quickly.
We bagged up the old clothes for charity.
Could you bag these apples separately from the bread?
verbtransitiveinformal
To manage to get or win something, especially quickly or before others do.
Grammar: Takes an object and is informal: bag a seat, bag a bargain.
Patterns
- bag something
- bag a seat
We arrived early to bag the best seats by the window.
He bagged two goals before half-time.
She bagged a bargain at the end-of-season sale.
nounsingularinformalold-fashioned
A person's particular interest or preferred activity.
Grammar: Used in informal phrases with a possessive: it's not my bag.
Patterns
- be someone's bag
- not someone's bag
Heavy metal is not really my bag.
Cooking for crowds isn't her bag, so she volunteers to wash up.
Jazz is his bag, and he owns hundreds of records.
nouncountableoffensiveinformal
An unpleasant, unattractive or bad-tempered older woman, used as an insult.
Grammar: Appears in the insult old bag and is rude about a person's age and looks.
Patterns
- an old bag
The phrase old bag is a sexist insult and is best avoided.
Some older films use the word bag as a slur against women, which now sounds offensive.
Word forms
| plural | bags |
|---|---|
| third person | bags |
| past | bagged |
| past participle | bagged |
| -ing form | bagging |
Common combinations
- shopping bag
- She keeps a folding shopping bag in her coat pocket.
- pack a bag
- I packed a bag in ten minutes and left for the airport.
- plastic bag
- Many shops now charge for each plastic bag.
- bag of crisps
- He bought a bag of crisps for the journey.
- bag a seat
- We bagged a seat near the stage before the band started.
- carrier bag
- The carrier bag split under the weight of the tins.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sack
- A sack is bigger and rougher than a bag, usually made of coarse material for heavy goods like grain or potatoes.
- pouch
- A pouch is a small, soft bag, often closed with a cord and meant for little personal items.
- satchel
- A satchel is a specific bag carried on a shoulder strap, typically for books.
- snag
- As a verb, snag also means to get something quickly, but it often suggests catching it by luck or grabbing it from under someone's nose.
Word family
Commonly confused: bag or bog?
bag vs bog
Bog is wet, spongy ground and has a different vowel from bag, so listen for the short a sound in bag.
Practice
We left at dawn to ___ the best spot on the beach before the crowds arrived.
Choose one answer.
To bag a spot is an informal way of getting it before others. Cast, shed and lend all fit grammatically but do not mean to secure something.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bag”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.