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ditty bag

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noun
  1. a small bag used especially by sailors to hold sewing implements, toiletries, etc.
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Origin of ditty bag

First recorded in 1855–60; of obscure origin
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for ditty bag

Historical Examples

  • A rather hyperbolic phrase for a sailor's overhauling his ditty-bag at a leisure moment, and restowing his little hoard.

    The Sailor's Word-Book

    William Henry Smyth

British Dictionary definitions for ditty bag

ditty bag

noun
  1. a sailor's cloth bag for personal belongings or tools. A box used for these purposes is termed a ditty box
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Word Origin

C19: perhaps from obsolete dutty calico, from Hindi dhōtī loincloth, dhoti
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

Word Origin and History for ditty bag

n.

1850s nautical slang, perhaps from British naval phrase commodity bag.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper