Meaning
With all one's possessions, or completely and without leaving anything important behind. Often follows leave, depart, move or throw out. It can mean literally with every possession or figuratively entirely, as when an organisation transfers all of its operations. Regional use: English origin; now especially common in British English but understood more widely.
Origin
Bag and baggage first belonged to the practical vocabulary of armies: fifteenth-century baggage was the property and equipment carried with a force, not simply modern holiday luggage. By the late sixteenth century, the pair could refer more generally to the entirety of a person's movable belongings, and hence to a complete departure. The military vocabulary is older than the familiar domestic idiom, and the broad modern sense developed by transfer rather than appearing fully formed at the first record.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Bag, baggage and all
- With bag and baggage
Usage Examples
- After the final dispute, the tenant left the village bag and baggage.
- The archive moved bag and baggage into the renovated courthouse.
- She sold the flat and relocated to Lisbon with bag and baggage.