"grab bag" meaning in English

See grab bag in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: en-au-grab bag.ogg [Australia] Forms: grab bags [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} grab bag (plural grab bags)
  1. A gift, purchase, etc. whose contents are concealed until after a selection is made.
    Sense id: en-grab_bag-en-noun-POlegFnw Categories (other): English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 16 31 15 38
  2. (figurative) Any random assortment, selection or possibility. Tags: figuratively Categories (topical): Bags Synonyms: mixed bag
    Sense id: en-grab_bag-en-noun-2GSMqVCB Disambiguation of Bags: 12 40 17 31 Categories (other): English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 16 31 15 38
  3. A moderately large bag of crisps or other snack, intended for sharing.
    Sense id: en-grab_bag-en-noun-IWsvKe8U Categories (other): English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 16 31 15 38
  4. A bag containing essential items, which can be easily picked up and taken in an emergency. Synonyms: bug-out bag, go bag
    Sense id: en-grab_bag-en-noun-PSdBTdbJ Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 16 30 16 38 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 15 29 15 41 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 16 31 15 38
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: grabbag, grab-bag Related terms: grab box, mixed bag, lucky dip, pick 'n' mix

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for grab bag meaning in English (4.7kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "grab bags",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "grab bag (plural grab bags)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "9 11 36 45",
      "word": "grab box"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "9 11 36 45",
      "word": "mixed bag"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "9 11 36 45",
      "word": "lucky dip"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "9 11 36 45",
      "word": "pick 'n' mix"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "16 31 15 38",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Winners can choose a gift from the grab bags on the table.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A gift, purchase, etc. whose contents are concealed until after a selection is made."
      ],
      "id": "en-grab_bag-en-noun-POlegFnw",
      "links": [
        [
          "gift",
          "gift"
        ],
        [
          "purchase",
          "purchase"
        ],
        [
          "conceal",
          "conceal"
        ],
        [
          "selection",
          "selection"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "16 31 15 38",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "12 40 17 31",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Bags",
          "orig": "en:Bags",
          "parents": [
            "Containers",
            "Tools",
            "Technology",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "With that system, it's a grab bag which files we can find at any moment.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Mark Ribowsky, Whiskey Bottles and Brand-New Cars",
          "text": "There were now a grab bag of southern country-rock units with a new wrinkle—Black Oak Arkansas, for one, combined psychedelia, fifties rock, Hindu spiritualism, and gospel into “psycho-boogie,” or “raunch 'n' roll.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020 August 18, James Poniewozik, “A D.N.C. Opening Night for the New Abnormal”, in The New York Times",
          "text": "There was no location, really — most of the convention took place in a Milwaukee of the mind. […] Instead, the teleconvention kept a few standards (like the Bruce Springsteen–soundtracked montage) and borrowed from a grab bag of other TV formats, from talk show to cable news to reality-TV reunion special.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 July 10, Zachary Woolfe, “Review: Ted Hearne’s Sweet, Sad American Elegy”, in The New York Times",
          "text": "While this piece is less scattered than Hearne’s most recent major work, “Place,” a deeply personal reflection on gentrification, “Farming,” too, feels like a grab bag into which there’s always assumed to be room for yet one more idea.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any random assortment, selection or possibility."
      ],
      "id": "en-grab_bag-en-noun-2GSMqVCB",
      "links": [
        [
          "random",
          "random"
        ],
        [
          "assortment",
          "assortment"
        ],
        [
          "possibility",
          "possibility"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) Any random assortment, selection or possibility."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "mixed bag"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "16 31 15 38",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A moderately large bag of crisps or other snack, intended for sharing."
      ],
      "id": "en-grab_bag-en-noun-IWsvKe8U",
      "links": [
        [
          "crisp",
          "crisp"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "16 30 16 38",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 29 15 41",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "16 31 15 38",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A bag containing essential items, which can be easily picked up and taken in an emergency."
      ],
      "id": "en-grab_bag-en-noun-PSdBTdbJ",
      "links": [
        [
          "essential",
          "essential"
        ],
        [
          "picked up",
          "pick up"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "bug-out bag"
        },
        {
          "word": "go bag"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-grab bag.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/30/En-au-grab_bag.ogg/En-au-grab_bag.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/En-au-grab_bag.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "9 11 36 45",
      "word": "grabbag"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "9 11 36 45",
      "word": "grab-bag"
    }
  ],
  "word": "grab bag"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "en:Bags"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "grab bags",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "grab bag (plural grab bags)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "grab box"
    },
    {
      "word": "mixed bag"
    },
    {
      "word": "lucky dip"
    },
    {
      "word": "pick 'n' mix"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Winners can choose a gift from the grab bags on the table.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A gift, purchase, etc. whose contents are concealed until after a selection is made."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "gift",
          "gift"
        ],
        [
          "purchase",
          "purchase"
        ],
        [
          "conceal",
          "conceal"
        ],
        [
          "selection",
          "selection"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "With that system, it's a grab bag which files we can find at any moment.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Mark Ribowsky, Whiskey Bottles and Brand-New Cars",
          "text": "There were now a grab bag of southern country-rock units with a new wrinkle—Black Oak Arkansas, for one, combined psychedelia, fifties rock, Hindu spiritualism, and gospel into “psycho-boogie,” or “raunch 'n' roll.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020 August 18, James Poniewozik, “A D.N.C. Opening Night for the New Abnormal”, in The New York Times",
          "text": "There was no location, really — most of the convention took place in a Milwaukee of the mind. […] Instead, the teleconvention kept a few standards (like the Bruce Springsteen–soundtracked montage) and borrowed from a grab bag of other TV formats, from talk show to cable news to reality-TV reunion special.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 July 10, Zachary Woolfe, “Review: Ted Hearne’s Sweet, Sad American Elegy”, in The New York Times",
          "text": "While this piece is less scattered than Hearne’s most recent major work, “Place,” a deeply personal reflection on gentrification, “Farming,” too, feels like a grab bag into which there’s always assumed to be room for yet one more idea.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any random assortment, selection or possibility."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "random",
          "random"
        ],
        [
          "assortment",
          "assortment"
        ],
        [
          "possibility",
          "possibility"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) Any random assortment, selection or possibility."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "mixed bag"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A moderately large bag of crisps or other snack, intended for sharing."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "crisp",
          "crisp"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A bag containing essential items, which can be easily picked up and taken in an emergency."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "essential",
          "essential"
        ],
        [
          "picked up",
          "pick up"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "bug-out bag"
        },
        {
          "word": "go bag"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-grab bag.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/30/En-au-grab_bag.ogg/En-au-grab_bag.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/En-au-grab_bag.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "grabbag"
    },
    {
      "word": "grab-bag"
    }
  ],
  "word": "grab bag"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.