Baggage


trunks, suitcases, etc., used in traveling; luggage.
the portable equipment of an army.
things that encumber one’s freedom, progress, development, or adaptability; impediments:
intellectual baggage that keeps one from thinking clearly; neurotic conflicts that arise from struggling with too much emotional baggage.
Archaic.

a worthless woman.
a prostitute or disreputable woman.
Often Disparaging. a pert, playful young woman or girl:
a pretty baggage; a saucy baggage.

Contemporary Examples

And then he starts looking at another woman and finds out what her baggage is.
Jerry Springer Wants His Privacy Lloyd Grove April 17, 2010

So obviously when a character becomes iconic, you have to deal with the baggage that comes with it.
Robert Pattinson’s Life After ‘Twilight’ Andrew Romano June 12, 2014

Byrne was running as the establishment favorite, though with some baggage.
Alabama’s Republican Runoff Election May Predict the Party’s Future Ben Jacobs November 3, 2013

Think about it: The longer the runway, the more time the pilot has to get the airplane and all its baggage off the ground.
Why Middle School Should Be Abolished David C. Banks July 11, 2014

This is the baggage with which we saddle abandoned, orphaned, or disabled children given a fresh start at family life.
The New Movie Parents Hate Melissa Fay Greene July 14, 2009

Historical Examples

With the Russian official the main thing is the passport, not the baggage.
Through Scandinavia to Moscow William Seymour Edwards

He also procured a couple of mules to transport his baggage.
A Sketch of the Life of Brig. Gen. Francis Marion William Dobein James

Inside of three days out went the Slades from John Temple’s tenement, bag and baggage.
Tom Slade at Temple Camp Percy K. Fitzhugh

baggage and rifle on shoulder, he pursued a course south by east.
The Rock of Chickamauga Joseph A. Altsheler

He has this morning had all his baggage taken away by a man, who said that he was going immediately to leave the town.
The Insurgent Chief Gustave Aimard

noun

suitcases, bags, etc, packed for a journey; luggage
(mainly US & Canadian) (as modifier): baggage car

an army’s portable equipment
(informal, old-fashioned)

a pert young woman
an immoral woman or prostitute

(Irish, informal) a cantankerous old woman
(informal) previous knowledge and experience that a person may use or be influenced by in new circumstances: cultural baggage
n.

mid-15c., “portable equipment of an army; plunder, loot,” from Old French bagage “baggage, (military) equipment” (14c.), from bague “pack, bundle, sack,” ultimately from the same Scandinavian source that yielded bag (n.). Baggage-smasher (1851) was American English slang for “railway porter.”

Related Terms

excess baggage

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