Jump To:

• brown-bag
  brown-bag

  verb (used with object)

  to bring (one's own liquor) to a restaurant or club, especially one that has no liquor license.
• brown bag
  brown bag

  noun

  a bag made of brown paper, often used for carrying a packed lunch or alcohol

brown-bag

American  

[broun-bag] / ˈbraʊnˈbæg /

verb (used with object)

brown-bagged, brown-bagging

1. to bring (one's own liquor) to a restaurant or club, especially one that has no liquor license.

2. to bring (one's lunch) to work or elsewhere, usually in a small brown paper bag.

---

verb (used without object)

brown-bagged, brown-bagging

1. to carry one's lunch in a brown paper bag.

adjective

1. brought to work, usually in a small brown paper bag.

   a brown-bag lunch.

idioms

1. brown-bag it, to bring one's lunch to work or elsewhere, especially in a brown paper bag.

brown bag British  

noun

1. a bag made of brown paper, often used for carrying a packed lunch or alcohol

---

verb

1. to take a packed lunch in a brown bag

2. to carry alcohol in a brown bag

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• brown-bagger
  noun

Etymology

Origin of brown-bag

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

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

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

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

It also finances its own humanitarian efforts, including a 325-unit affordable residence for older people and those with disabilities, as well as brown-bag lunches for 35,000 annually.

From New York Times • Feb. 8, 2019

Mom chased after me, her housecoat pulled tight against the cold, and caught me just in time to hand me my brown-bag lunch.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam