to bring (one's own liquor) to a restaurant or club, especially one that has no liquor license.
to bring (one's lunch) to work or elsewhere, usually in a small brown paper bag.
to take a packed lunch in a brown bag
to carry alcohol in a brown bag
First recorded in 1955–60
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Bologna sandwiches may be the easiest kid’s school lunch, but it’s not difficult to prepare brown-bag meals that parents can appreciate too.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 22, 2023
During a brown-bag lunch with the junior staff, the senator stressed the importance of having an apolitical career before running for public office.
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2022
In one of his brown-bag letters from 2017, Hubbard wrote about trading a cookie and a meat patty for five stamps.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 8, 2019
If your familiar brown-bag sandwich has left you feeling kind of blue, fear not.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 21, 2019
I am holding tight to my brown-bag lunch.
From "Muffled" by Jennifer Gennari
He collects a brown bag and agrees to let us join him for the ride.
From BBC ● Jan. 30, 2026
Agents were seen placing at least one item from outside the building into a brown bag.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 15, 2025
Photos posted on social media showed brown bag meals consisting of a corn dog or peanut butter sandwich.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 29, 2022
Afterward, the governor handed the prince a brown bag containing a bean sprout sandwich.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2022
He’s holding a tray with two coffees in paper cups, plus a small brown bag.
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
Immigration officials hand him a brown-bagged lunch and water bottle.
From Slate ● May 23, 2016
Then, like the guests who'll follow, he's asked to blind-taste and describe, in original terms, a brown-bagged wine.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2014
There was no cafeteria, so lunches were brown-bagged.
From New York Times ● Jun. 2, 2011
The next day, I brown-bagged it — and vowed to never forget to bring my lunch again, at least not when temperatures are in the 90s.
From Washington Post
The week of the Knightsbridge contest, the five of them brown-bagged their lunches so that they could practice through lunch.
From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg
For example, hiring professional movers as opposed to using your friends, or buying lunch every day instead of brown-bagging it can feel like worthwhile conveniences.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 31, 2025
If you think that’s the case, you can sustain a friendship just as easily brown-bagging it at a local park as you can at a trendy-spendy salad assembly line.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 21, 2022
It can be hard to resist the temptation of a nearby sandwich shop or pizza joint at lunchtime every day, but you can save hundreds of dollars a month by brown-bagging it to work.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 18, 2021
Kim Williams of Boston is brown-bagging her lunch more often too.
From Reuters ● May 13, 2011
Alfredo Viazzi, owner of Trattoria da Alfredo, a pocket-size Greenwich Village eating house, squealed to the press that hizzoner was a frequent brown-bagging customer.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
