carpetbag

American  

[kahr-pit-bag] / ˈkɑr pɪtˌbæg /

noun

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

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verb (used without object)

carpetbagged, carpetbagging

1. to journey with little luggage.

2. to act as a carpetbagger.

carpetbag British  

/ ˈkɑːpɪtˌbæɡ /

noun

1. a travelling bag originally made of carpeting

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Etymology

Origin of carpetbag

First recorded in 1820–30; carpet + bag

Example Sentences

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.

From The New Yorker • Jun. 3, 2019

Re-reading it now from the misty vantage point of middle age, I hardly recognise the solitary figure who shouldered a carpetbag for 4,185km.

From The Guardian • Jan. 6, 2019

So the new sequel, directed by Rob Marshall and starring Emily Blunt, carried a rather heavy carpetbag, you might say.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 12, 2018

Keats said it first, but it was Mary Poppins, being practically perfect in every way, who found the right occasion for it, shortly after pulling an improbably large houseplant out of her carpetbag.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 12, 2018

But she had already tossed the carpetbag that held her pen and paper, and so the seashell went over empty.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood