handbag

Etymology

It is formed from English hand + bag.^[2][3][4][5] The verb is from the noun.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A light bag carried in one hand, especially by a traveller: 1859, in F. C. Cozzens's Acadia,^[2][4] but Etymonline records hand-bag, a bag for small articles carried in the hand, by 1823.^[3] Dictionary.com dates it to 1860–65.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The usual modern sense, a woman's small bag for everyday personal items, often a fashion accessory, is recorded from 1873.^[2] The verb, of a woman, to hit someone with a handbag, and figuratively to attack or crush verbally, is recorded from 1952 in the OED.^[2] The Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins credits the verbal sense to the Conservative MP Julian Critchley, who said in 1982 that Margaret Thatcher could not look at a British institution without hitting it with her handbag.^[6][7] From the idea of women fighting with their handbags,^[7] British football slang from 1987 calls a confrontation that never becomes a real fight handbags,^[2][7] also handbags at three paces or at ten paces, as if of a duel.^[6] In the 1990s handbag or handbag house became the name of a commercial style of house music,^[2][8] an allusion to women dancing round their handbags in clubs.^[8]

Timeline

• 1823 – hand-bag, a bag carried in the hand.^[3]
• 1859 – a light bag carried in one hand, especially when travelling.^[2][4]
• 1873 – a woman's small bag for personal items.^[2]
• 1952 – verb, to hit with a handbag; to attack verbally.^[2]
• 1982 – Julian Critchley on Margaret Thatcher's handbag.^[6]
• 1987 – handbags, a histrionic confrontation, especially in football.^[2]
• 1991 – handbag house, a style of dance music.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A woman's small bag, carried in the hand or over the shoulder, for money, keys and other personal things: She kept her ticket in her handbag.^[8][4][2]
2. A small suitcase or travelling bag carried by hand.^[8][4][2]
3. handbags (British, informal): a confrontation, especially between footballers, that does not lead to serious fighting.^[7][2]
4. A commercial style of house music with catchy melodies, also called handbag house.^[8][2]

Verb

1. (informal, humorous) Of a woman: to attack or crush a person or idea verbally.^[7][2]

Related words

• hand
• bag

Usage notes

In the United States and Canada the bag is also called a purse, and chiefly in the United States a pocketbook.^[8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins