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The meaning and origin of the expression: Bag and baggage

Bag and baggage

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What's the meaning of the phrase 'Bag and baggage'?

One's bag and baggage is the sum total of one's possessions.

What's the origin of the phrase 'Bag and baggage'?

The meaning and origin of the phrase 'Bag and baggage'The phrase is of military origin. 'Bag and baggage' referred to the entire property of an army and that of the soldiers in it. To 'retire bag and baggage' meant to beat an honourable retreat, surrendering nothing. These days, to 'leave bag and baggage' means just to clear out of a property, leaving nothing behind.

The phrase is ancient enough that the earliest citation isn't in contemporary English. Rymer's Foedera, 1422, has:

"Cum armaturis bonis bogeis, baggagiis.

The earliest reference in English that most would understand is in John Berners' 'The firste volum of John Froissart', 1525:

"We haue with vs all our bagges and baggages that we haue wonne by armes."

Shakespeare later used the phrase in As You Like It, 1600:

"Let vs make an honorable retreit, though not with bagge and baggage, yet with scrip and scrippage."

Gary Martin - the author of the phrases.org.uk website.

By Gary Martin

Gary Martin is a writer and researcher on the origins of phrases and the creator of the Phrase Finder website. Over the past 26 years more than 700 million of his pages have been downloaded by readers. He is one of the most popular and trusted sources of information on phrases and idioms.

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