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 a travelling bag originally made of carpeting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

See Examples For:

carpetbag carpetbagging

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.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 21, 2021

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

I slipped out of bed and opened my carpetbag.

From "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine

The PGA Tour punished players who joined, and its members spent months sniping at their carpetbagging competitors.

From New York Times ● Apr. 8, 2023

Why do voters respond positively to deeply rooted candidates and negatively to their carpetbagging counterparts?

From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2022

And the 50-year-old was vulnerable to accusations of carpetbagging.

From Washington Post ● May 10, 2022

You would think that living in a state for 16 years would be enough to shake off attacks of opportunism or carpetbagging.

From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2018

I think she has found out about the carpetbagging.

From Andrew the Glad by Daviess, Maria Thompson