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
As is his habit, Ly said, Off brought a brown-bag lunch and ate with employees in Metro’s break room at the transit agency’s L’Enfant Plaza headquarters.
From Washington Post ● May 17, 2022
One advantage of remote work has been the many opportunities over the summer to attend brown-bag training sessions specifically for interns and newsroom-wide discussions, all held via Zoom.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 20, 2021
She hands Sunny and me brown-bag lunches, pats our cheeks gently for luck, and the three of us head out with plenty of time to spare.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
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
Diarte, who wore a long-sleeved red shirt that read “Daddy Elf,” heated alphabet soup to put in a pink thermos for Melody, while Perez put oranges into a brown bag for the 17-year-old.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2023
Not sure of his intentions, she suggested that they make it a brown bag lunch outside where they could enjoy the beautiful fall Atlanta weather — something low key and low stakes.
From New York Times ● Nov. 19, 2021
The last thing he’d eaten was the brown bag lunch, and he didn’t even get to finish it because of the twins.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
The mayor, he said, had brown-bagged it, bringing food from off the island.
From New York Times ● Apr. 10, 2017
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
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.
