old bag
12
9.9
- noun
- Slur
- Hillary: Does anyone even know where that useless old bag went?
- old bag of bones
Examples
-
This one's for Alex, you old bag!
-
"What's the point in getting mixed up with that old bag?"
Fiction book (1990) -
- What an old bag she is.
-
I mean, I thought it was going to be really hard to get money out of that old bag.
-
You are NOT an old bag!
Fiction book (2000) -
Shut up, you old bag!
Blog text (2) -
That old bag Hotchkiss must be long dead by now.
-
She sounds like a proper old bag to me.
-
In our society, you're considered an old bag, she reminded herself.
Fiction book (1990) -
That old bag always complains about everything, making her quite unpleasant to be around.
Synonyms
23
9.7
An older person who seems out of touch and set in their ways
12
9.5
An informal rude word for an older woman who is tough and speaks her mind
3
9.9
An unpleasant, bossy older woman who scolds people
1
9.9
Usually said about a woman who is often rude and complains a lot
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The insult 'old bag' is directly built from the adjective 'old' (elderly) plus 'bag' used as a derogatory term for an unpleasant woman, so the overall meaning is predictable from the parts. Although informal and offensive, this is a straightforward adjectival + noun composition rather than an idiomatic shift, making it comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
The insult old bag may come from the older phrase old baggage; one popular story says 'baggage' was a rude name for a difficult woman, like a heavy bag you want to leave behind. That's why old bag means 'an unpleasant, annoying, or bad-tempered older woman'.