Gladstone bag
1
8.5
- noun
- /ˈɡlædstoʊn bæɡ/
- Archaic
:
maletín Gladstone
- The travelers lined up at the bus terminal, each with a Gladstone bag filled with clothes and personal items.
Examples
-
When the sky begins to lighten, to a periwinkle hue and then to lavender, she rises and packs her Gladstone bag.
Fiction book (2000) -
I finally managed to get all the absolute necessities of travel into a good-sized steamer trunk, a large Gladstone bag, and a shawl strap, but found, by experience, that my progress would have been in no degree retarded, and my comfort and happiness far better served, by carrying a second and larger box with everything I could possibly have required.
Blog text (22) -
I took off for America, without my Gladstone bag... ...and worked my way through college.
-
In a Gladstone bag, of course.
-
NIGHT: Alex has found and opened a large Gladstone bag.
Fiction book (1994) -
When, months after that, Jolie-Gray leaves for the Marshes, she carries a black Gladstone bag that Bertille had rummaged for in the garage rafters.
Fiction book (2000) -
So she sets her Gladstone bag at the back of a linen closet, beside piles of towels, and cleans rooms at the Roosevelt, in a time when it is so difficult to get work that people are sleeping in alleys.
Fiction book (2000) -
She had thought she retained no mental picture of Uncle Roscoe, and she was startled to find him bobbing up like this, shifting his veiny leather Gladstone bag to his other hand so he could clamp her shoulder as they proceeded toward the house.
Fiction book (1995) -
As she boarded the train, she struggled to lift her heavy Gladstone bag onto the overhead rack.
-
After a long journey, he finally set down his Gladstone bag and sighed with relief at his arrival.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A flexible container for carrying personal things like books or clothes
1
9.1
A large leather suitcase with two sections that open outwards
1
1.3
A case for carrying clothes and personal items on a trip
A large strong travel bag with soft sides and a hard frame
How Rigid
110
3.3
- Archaic
1
8.5
356
1.0
28
2.5
32
3.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although 'bag' signals it's a kind of container, the proper name 'Gladstone' is an eponym and does not convey the specific features (large, rigid leather, hinged top) of the item. The meaning is therefore not compositionally predictable from the parts; knowing the constituents only yields 'a bag related to Gladstone' but not the conventional form and use, so learners would need prior exposure or explanation.
Etymology
Gladstone bag is named after William Gladstone, a 19th-century British prime minister who often carried a stiff leather bag with a hinged top. Because people saw him with that style, the words 'Gladstone bag' came to mean a large travel bag with a top that opens like a small box.