handbag

CEFRA2

/ˈhændˌbæɡ/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A small bag carried by a woman for personal items.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Ellipsis of handbag house.

Examples

  • Mary claimed that the handbag had been a present from her husband.

  • This is the handbag I bought in Italy.

At a glance

Sits at A2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • /ˈhæm.bəɡ/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

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

  2. A small bag used chiefly by women for carrying various small personal items, sometimes considered as a fashion accessory.

verb

Extra meaning

  1. To attack verbally or subject to criticism (typically used of a woman).

More examples

In context

  • Who has taken my handbag?

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

  • 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 […].

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

She put her phone and keys in her leather blank before going out.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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.