luggage
English
Etymology
1590s, lug (“to drag”) + -age, literally “that which is lugged, dragged around”.[1] Duplicate -g- is to clarify pronunciation of the vowel ‘u’ (which is pronounced unchanged from lug). Compare baggage.
Pronunciation
- (UK, US) enPR: lŭg'ĭj, IPA(key): /ˈlʌɡɪd͡ʒ/
Audio (UK) (file)
- Rhymes: -ʌɡɪdʒ
- Hyphenation: lug‧gage
Noun
luggage (usually uncountable, plural luggages)
A man carrying his luggage (1).
- (uncountable) The bags and other containers that hold a traveller's belongings.
- August 4, 1726, Jonathan Swift, letter to Alexander Pope
- I am gathering up my luggage, and preparing for my journey.
- August 4, 1726, Jonathan Swift, letter to Alexander Pope
- (uncountable) The contents of such containers.
- (countable, nonstandard or obsolete) A specific bag or container holding a traveller's belongings.
- 1858, “Letter from Rev. George L. Seymour”, in The African Repository and Colonial Journal, volume 34, page 13:
- I assisted some time ago in cutting up a tree, that made tolerably good turns or luggage for nineteen or twenty persons, which could be procured for about two dollars at the stump.
- 1875, W. G. Willson, Report of the Midnapore and Burdwan Cyclone of the 15th and 16th of October 1874:
- The passengers injured who could not get out were removed out by the railway staff, and then taking part of the luggage the train started back for Burdwan.
- 1964 [1957], Colin MacInnes, City of Spades, London: Penguin Books, page 15:
- Namely, leaving my luggages at the Government hostel, to go straight out by taxi (oh, so slow, compared with our sleek Lagos limousines!) to the famous central Piccadilly Tube station where I took a onestop ticket, went down on the escalator, and then ran up the same steps in the wrong direction.
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Synonyms
- baggage
Derived terms
- cabin luggage
- carry-on luggage
- checked luggage
- hand luggage
- hold luggage
Translations
traveller's containers
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References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “luggage”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.