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handbagging

noun

Etymology

From handbag + -ing. Originally, a metonymic reference to Margaret Thatcher's handbag.

  1. derived from baggi
  2. inherited from bagge
  3. formed as handbag — “hand + bag”
  4. formed as handbagging — “handbag + -ing”

Definitions

  1. A verbal attack or criticism.

    • Much of the resistance to women at the altar had always derived from women in the pews; Dr Hewitt's handbagging style helped to undermine the feminists' refrain that these women's conservatism was the result of brutal oppression by men.
    • I think the short answer is that six weeks ago the Prime Minister was promising his Back Benchers a handbagging for Europe, but now he is reduced to hand wringing.
    • In Downing Street there was urgent fury, and it was coming from Margaret Thatcher, ready to give a handbagging to anyone who got in her way.

  2. present participle and gerund of handbag

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for handbagging. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA