backpack

American  

[bak-pak] / ˈbækˌpæk /

noun

1. a pack or knapsack, often of canvas or nylon, to be carried on one's back, sometimes supported on a lightweight metal frame strapped to the body.

2. a piece of equipment designed to be used while being carried on the back.

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verb (used without object)

1. to go on a hike, using a backpack.

   We went backpacking in the Adirondacks.

verb (used with object)

1. to place or carry in a backpack or on one's back.

backpack British  

/ ˈbækˌpæk /

noun

1. a rucksack or knapsack

2. a pack carried on the back of an astronaut, containing oxygen cylinders, essential supplies, etc

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verb

1. (intr) to travel about or go hiking with a backpack

2. (tr) to transport (food or equipment) by backpack

Other Word Forms

• backpacker
  noun
• backpacking
  noun

Etymology

Origin of backpack

An Americanism dating back to 1910–15; back ¹ + pack ¹

Explanation

A backpack is a bag you wear on your back, with straps over your shoulders. Lots of kids carry their books to school in a backpack. A hiker might carry a heavy backpack for miles, with food and a folded tent inside, while a kindergartner's backpack will be much smaller, and may have a cartoon character on it. You can also call this portable kind of bag a rucksack. If you hike with a backpack, you go backpacking, and you can call yourself a backpacker. The word's been around since the earliest 20th century.

Example Sentences

But other items subsequently recovered from the defendant's backpack at a police station can be used by prosecutors, Judge Gregory Carro said.

From Barron's • May 18, 2026

A New York judge will allow a gun and writings found in Luigi Mangione's backpack after his 2024 arrest to be presented at his state murder trial, but has ruled that other items are inadmissible.

From BBC • May 18, 2026

“The evidence found during the search of the backpack at the McDonald’s must be suppressed, including the magazine, cellphone, passport, wallet and computer chip,” he wrote.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 18, 2026

The backpack he was carrying was searched without a warrant, justifying the exclusion of the evidence first recovered from it, Carro found.

From Barron's • May 18, 2026

“Hidden in plain sight,” I muttered as I yanked the fifth and final one off the concrete wall of the Revere Building and carefully tucked it inside the backpack I’d found abandoned on the playground.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

Related Words

• knapsack