ENGLISH
REFERENCE

baggage

n. uncountable
B1 Intermediate US //ˈbæɡədʒ// UK //bˈæɡɪdʒ// bag·gage Archaic Informal Vulgar

n. the bags and suitcases you take with you when you travel. It can also mean the difficult feelings or problems from your past that affect how you act now.

n. the suitcases, trunks, and personal belongings of a traveller; figuratively, the past experiences or long-held beliefs that constrain or complicate a person's current psychological state.


SIMPLE

The airline lost all my baggage on the flight to Rome.

CONTEXTUAL

She was hesitant to start a new relationship because she was still carrying a lot of emotional baggage from her divorce.

COMPLEX

While the physical baggage was easily stowed in the overhead compartment, the psychological baggage of returning to his hometown after twenty years proved far more difficult to manage.

Synonyms
Origin

From Middle English bagage, from Old French bagage, baguage, from bague (“bundle, sack”), of Germanic/North Germanic origin, probably from the same ultimate source as Old Norse baggi (“pack, bundle”). Compare also bag. By surface analysis, bag + -age. The old meaning of "nasty woman" likely derives from the sense of "something awkward to be carried" (compare faggot).

Usage

Uncountable; use 'pieces of baggage' to refer to individual items. In the psychological sense, it is almost always used without a determiner or with a possessive pronoun.

Pitfall

I have three baggages.I have three pieces of baggage.Baggage is uncountable and cannot be used in the plural form or with numbers.

Idioms1 entry

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