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doggie bag

doggie bag

5 2.0
A bag a restaurant gives you to take home leftover food
  • noun
  • /ˈdɔɡi bæɡ/
  • US
translation icon : bolsa para llevar
  • So order me a steak, l'll get a doggie bag, and it'll be my insomnia snack.
  • ask for a doggie bag
  • get a doggie bag
  • doggie bag of steak

Examples

  • They also delivered a giant "doggie bag" of food from the party for me to eat when I got better.

    Blog text (6)
  • ''Can l have one dinner, and can you put a steak in a doggie bag?''

  • And good thing because I made you a doggie bag.

  • Anybody got a doggie bag?

  • Would you like a doggie bag?

  • Young man, may we get some doggie bags here, please?

  • Would you like your steaks put in a doggie bag, sir?

  • People requested doggie bags at fancy restaurants.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • Damon pulls out a "doggie bag."

    Fiction book (1994)
  • Would you like a doggie bag to take your leftovers home?

Synonyms

bag
vsdoggie bag
1.0

A flexible container for carrying personal things like books or clothes

is the specific restaurant container used to take home leftover food
baggie
vsdoggie bag
  • Informal
13 2.5

A small plastic bag used to hold food or small items

is provided by eateries to send leftover meals home with customers
Ziploc
vsdoggie bag
  • US
9 3.0

A plastic bag with a seal you close to keep food or small items fresh

is supplied by restaurants specifically for uneaten food to take away
doggy bag
vsdoggie bag
5 2.5

A bag a restaurant gives you to take leftover food home

is the same idea but using a different spelling form
carrier bag
vsdoggie bag
  • UK
1 1.7

A bag shops give you to carry things you buy home

is offered mainly for taking uneaten restaurant food home instead of purchases

Surface Forms

doggie bag singular
doggie bags plural

Morphology

doggie + bag

Although 'doggie' (a diminutive of 'dog') plus 'bag' (a container) gives a surface link to a container associated with a dog, the idiomatic restaurant sense 'a bag for taking home leftovers' is not directly inferable from the literal parts and can be misinterpreted as a bag for a dog. The meaning is historically metaphorical and somewhat conventionalized in English, so learners who know the constituents may still fail to predict the idiomatic use without prior exposure.

Etymology

Doggie bag comes from restaurants where people put leftover food into a small bag to take home. One popular story says the food was often meant for a pet doggie, so the name stuck, and today doggie bag means 'a bag for taking leftover food home'.