paper bag
42
1.0
- noun
- /ˈpeɪpər bæg/
:
bolsa de papel
- The shop offered customers a paper bag to carry their purchases home.
- brown paper bag
- plastic or paper bags
- kraft paper bag
And then you'd have to pack a lunch, you know, a bag lunch literally in a brown paper bag.
- And then you'd have to pack a lunch, you know, a bag lunch literally in a brown paper bag.
- You show up with a brown paper bag.
- I was the last species of my kind, covering my books with the brown paper bag.
Examples
-
Esther picked up the paper bags and carried them over to the rubbish bin.
Fiction book (1990) -
Would you get me a paper bag, please?
-
Have you got a paper bag or something?
-
Pull out the paper bag.
-
I give each student a paper bag to hold the items we collect.
Academic text (2001) -
Residents are asked to put their newspapers in one paper bag and paper items in another.
Academic text (1998) -
Before her in a white paper bag was a small round loaf of black bread.
Fiction book (1992) -
For a moment, I gazed at the paper bags in my hands.
Fiction book (1992) -
The policeman nudged the paper bag with the end of his shoe.
Fiction book (1992) -
I was with him one day when he delivered over $7,000 to Mr. Calabrese in a paper bag.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A flexible container for carrying personal things like books or clothes
117
1.0
A large bag made of paper, plastic or cloth for carrying things
77
1.0
A thin bag made of plastic for carrying or storing things
14
1.0
A bag, usually plastic or thick paper with handles, used to carry things after shopping
11
1.0
A paper or plastic container people use to carry food and other items from a store
3
2.4
A simple paper bag used to carry a packed lunch
1
1.7
A bag shops give you to carry things you buy home
1
9.9
A small paper or plastic bag for carrying goods
How Sturdy
37
1.0
42
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a bag made of paper' is directly and compositionally derived from combining 'paper' (material) with 'bag' (container); the compound simply specifies the bag's material. This noun–noun compounding pattern is common across languages and standard in English, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand it.
Etymology
The compound noun paper bag comes from shops long ago making a cheap bag from folded paper so customers could carry their purchases home. That's why paper bag now means 'a bag made of paper'.