bag lady

Học thuật
Thân thiện
Definition
  1. Noun:
    • A homeless woman who carries all her possessions with her in shopping bags: A term for a woman, typically living on the streets or in extreme poverty, who transports her worldly belongings in bags, often shopping bags.
Usage Examples
  • Noun:
    • The city has programs aimed at helping the bag lady who sleeps near the train station.
    • She was concerned about becoming a bag lady after losing her job and home.
Advanced Usage
  • The term is often used to symbolize urban poverty, social isolation, and the precariousness of life, especially for older women without a support system.
    • The character in the novel lived in constant fear of ending up as a bag lady.
Variants and Related Words
  • Bag person: A more gender-neutral term, though less commonly used.
  • Homeless person: The general, standard term.
  • Street person: A general term for someone living on the streets.
Synonyms
  • Homeless woman: The direct, non-idiomatic synonym.
  • Derelict: (Can be pejorative) A person without a home, job, or property.
  • Vagrant: A person without a settled home or regular work who wanders from place to place.
Related Idioms
  • "Bag lady" is itself an idiomatic noun phrase. It can be used metaphorically to describe someone who hoards items or feels burdened by possessions.
    • After the divorce, she felt like an emotional bag lady, carrying around all her past hurts.
Noun
  1. a homeless woman who carries all her possessions with her in shopping bags