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