Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
grab bag EXAMPLES|WORD ORIGIN noun a container or receptacle from which a person at a party or the like draws a gift without knowing what it is. any miscellaneous collection. Liberaldictionary.com
Origin of grab bag An Americanism dating back to 1850–55 Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019 Related Words for grab-bag ragbag, tontine Examples from the Web for grab-bag Contemporary Examples of grab-bag
Figures from that grab-bag list also made their way into the requirements for United States history and government.
In Texas Textbooks, Moses Is a Founding Father
Edward Countryman
September 22, 2014
As for the rest of the meeting last week, it was a grab-bag of potential culture-war battles, some big and some small.
Southern Baptists Take Baby Steps Away from the Culture Wars
Ruth Graham
June 14, 2014
Historical Examples of grab-bag
It was like a grab-bag, but glorified and raised to a more generous level.
Charles S. Brooks
Do you think Miss Matilda could mean to have a Christmas grab-bag for us?
Harper’s Young People, May 11, 1880
Various
I have had some rare fun over it for it is much on the principle of a grab-bag at a fair.
Amy E. Blanchard
The relation between the grab-bag and the gaming-table is not inconceivable.
Various
So that’s the prize poor old Renshaw drew from the Western grab-bag!
Herbert M. Hopkins
British Dictionary definitions for grab-bag grab bag noun a collection of miscellaneous things US, Canadian and Australian a bag or other container from which gifts are drawn at random Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for grab-bag n.
“miscellaneous mixture,” 1854, originally a carnival game; from grab + bag (n.).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper Idioms and Phrases with grab-bag grab bag
A miscellaneous collection, as in The meeting amounted to a grab bag of petty complaints. This term alludes to a container offered at a party or fair, where one dips in for a party favor or prize without knowing what one will get. [Mid-1800s]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
