grab bag
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Literal sense:
Pronunciation
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
- A gift, purchase, etc. whose contents are concealed until after a selection is made; a bag as gift that comprises mystery prizes.
- Synonym: mystery bag
- Coordinate terms: goody bag, party bag; swag bag
- Winners can choose a gift from the grab bags on the table.
- A bag from which a gift or prize may be withdrawn (grabbed) unseen.
- Synonym: mystery bag
- Hypernyms: lucky dip, lucky draw
- Coordinate term: grab box
- (figurative) Any random assortment, selection or possibility.
- Synonyms: lucky dip, mixed bag, ragbag, hodgepodge; see also Thesaurus:hodgepodge
- With that system, it's a grab bag which files we can find at any moment.
- 2015, Mark Ribowsky, Whiskey Bottles and Brand-New Cars:
- There were now a grab bag of southern country-rock units with a new wrinkle—Black Oak Arkansas, for one, combined psychedelia, fifties rock, Hindu spiritualism, and gospel into “psycho-boogie,” or “raunch 'n' roll.”
- 2020 August 18, James Poniewozik, “A D.N.C. Opening Night for the New Abnormal”, in The New York Times[1]:
- There was no location, really — most of the convention took place in a Milwaukee of the mind. […] Instead, the teleconvention kept a few standards (like the Bruce Springsteen–soundtracked montage) and borrowed from a grab bag of other TV formats, from talk show to cable news to reality-TV reunion special.
- 2023 July 10, Zachary Woolfe, “Review: Ted Hearne’s Sweet, Sad American Elegy”, in The New York Times[2]:
- While this piece is less scattered than Hearne’s most recent major work, “Place,” a deeply personal reflection on gentrification, “Farming,” too, feels like a grab bag into which there’s always assumed to be room for yet one more idea.
- A moderately large bag of crisps or other snack, suitable for sharing.
- A bag containing essential items, which can be easily picked up and taken in an emergency.
- Synonyms: bug-out bag, go bag