bag lady
5
8.2
- noun
- /bæɡ ˈleɪdi/
- Offensive
:
mendiga
- An old bag lady is walking down the street talking loudly to a short woman tagging along beside her.
- see the bag lady
- dressed as a bag lady
- old bag lady
Examples
-
A homeless bag lady stands behind him.
Fiction book (2002) -
A bag lady lay on a wooden bench, her head cushioned on a shopping bag filled with old clothes.
Fiction book (1995) -
A Central Park bag lady I would be.
-
You look like a bag lady.
-
I looked like a bag lady.
-
Ruby was a bag lady.
-
When the light turned green, Cora and the bag lady crossed the street, Cora walking briskly ahead once more.
Fiction book (2001) -
When the smoke cleared a bit, she saw an old bag lady lying on the sidewalk, her market cart in twisted pieces beside her, her few belongings strewn around her.
Fiction book (2001) -
The bag lady sat quietly on the park bench, surrounded by her shopping bags.
-
Many people in the city have seen the bag lady pushing her cart full of belongings.
Synonyms
11
5.6
A person without a home who sleeps outdoors or in public places
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'bag' (container) and 'lady' (woman) transparently suggest a woman associated with bags, so a B1 learner would likely infer a woman who carries bags. However, the conventionalized sense — specifically a (often derogatory) term for a homeless woman who carries her belongings in shopping bags — and its social/pejorative nuance are not fully predictable from the parts alone, so prior exposure or cultural knowledge is needed.
Etymology
Bag lady comes from the clear image of a lady who walks the streets carrying all her things in bags, so the phrase means 'a homeless woman who carries her belongings'.