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carpetbag

[kahr-pit-bag]

noun

  1. a bag for traveling, especially one made of carpeting.



verb (used without object)

carpetbagged, carpetbagging 
  1. to journey with little luggage.

  2. to act as a carpetbagger.

carpetbag

/ ˈkɑːpɪtˌbæɡ /

noun

  1. a travelling bag originally made of carpeting

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word History and Origins

Origin of carpetbag1

First recorded in 1820–30; carpet + bag
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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Never fear: The Tolkien literary estate seems to have an enchanted carpetbag, with wonders that emerge long after it has seemingly been emptied.

Read more on Washington Post

He carried no trunk, only a carpetbag that was fraying apart at the seams.

Read more on Literature

Whenever things grow desperate, Fogg pulls wads of cash from his carpetbag to pay captains to sail faster, to buy an elephant as jungle transport or, finally, to acquire and destroy an entire steamship.

Read more on Washington Post

“This event on April 13, 1873 marked the end of carpetbag misrule in the South.”

Read more on Washington Post

Some distance away, beyond the shade of the awning, a low white, with what I guessed to be all his possessions in a carpetbag, smoked tobacco.

Read more on The New Yorker

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