use-icon

HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY

To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.

Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.

guide to the dictionary

use-icon

THE USAGE PANEL

The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.

The Panelists

open-icon

AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP

The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.

scroll-icon

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG

The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.

100-words-icon

See word lists from the best-selling 100 Words Series!

Find out more!

open-icon

INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?

Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com

bag (băg)
Share:
n.
1.
a. A container of flexible material, such as paper, plastic, or leather, that is used for carrying or storing items.
b. A handbag; a purse.
c. A piece of hand luggage, such as a suitcase or satchel.
d. A pouchlike or sagging organ or part of the body, such as a cow's udder.
2. An object that resembles a pouch.
3. Nautical The sagging or bulging part of a sail.
4. The amount that a bag can hold.
5. An amount of game taken or legally permitted to be taken.
6. Baseball A base.
7. Slang An area of interest or skill: Cooking is not my bag.
8. Slang A woman considered ugly or unkempt.
v. bagged, bag·ging, bags
v.tr.
1. To put into a bag: bag groceries.
2. To cause to bulge like a pouch.
3. To capture or kill as game: bagged six grouse.
4. Informal
a. To gain; acquire: He bagged a profit from the sale.
b. To capture or arrest: was bagged for trespassing.
c. To accomplish or achieve: bagged a birdie with a long putt.
5. Slang
a. To fail to attend purposely; skip: bagged classes for the day and went to the beach.
b. To stop doing or considering; abandon: bagged the idea and started from scratch.
c. To terminate the employment of.
v.intr.
1. To pack items in a bag.
2. To hang loosely: The pants bag at the knees.
3. To swell out; bulge.
Phrasal Verb:
bag out
To quit or abandon an activity.
Idioms:
bag and baggage
1. With all one's belongings.
2. To a complete degree; entirely.
bag it Slang
1. To cease participating in an activity: Finally in disgust I told my debating opponent to bag it.
2. To bring along one's lunch, as in a paper bag: I don't like cafeteria food, so I always bag it.
in the bag
Assured of a successful outcome; virtually accomplished or won.

[Middle English bagge, from Old Norse baggi.]

bagful n.
bagger n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.