Dictionary

carpetbag en · ADJ

Etymology

From carpet + bag.

Meanings

1. (US, not-comparable) Having the characteristics of carpetbaggers.
   • carpetbag travels

Forms

carpetbag en · NOUN

Etymology

From carpet + bag.

Meanings

1. A traveling bag made from scraps of carpet and widely used in the United States (and elsewhere) in the 19ᵗʰ century.
   • Pen jumped out of the carriage then, his carpet-bag in hand, and briskly determined to face his fortune. 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 74, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

Forms

Deriveds

carpetbaggery · carpetbag steak

Translations (7)

sv kappsäck (a type of bag) · ota چانطه (a type of bag) · lt sakvojažas (a type of bag) · de (aus Teppichresten gefertigte) Reisetasche (a type of bag) · ru саквоя́ж (a type of bag) · fr sac de voyage (en tissu) (a type of bag) · pl torba dywanowa (a type of bag)

carpetbag en · VERB

Etymology

From carpet + bag.

Meanings

1. (US) To come to a place or organisation with which one has no previous connection with the sole or primary aim of personal gain, especially political or financial gain.
   • The Five Star Movement has long railed against carpetbagging, but for all of Ms. D’Alessandro’s efforts to seem of the place — talking about her childhood in Naples and showing the bar where she had her first date — she clearly isn’t. 2018 February 23, Jason Horowitz, “Italy’s ‘Five Star’ Grows Up Into a Real Party, Scandals and All”, in New York Times:

Forms

Deriveds

carpetbaggism · carpetbagger