Word.ws English Dictionary

brown bag

brown bag noun: a brown paper bag.

Noun

brown bag (plural brown bags)

  1. A brown paper bag.
  2. (idiomatic) A short presentation or seminar on a given subject, especially one given at lunchtime.
    • Did you attend the brown bag Tuesday on healthy exercise habits?
    • So what student would choose to work in Washington for zero compensation, with benefits listed as "brown-bags," "farewell reception" and "athletic and service opportunities"?1994 November 6, William Goss, “Interning For Pleasure And Profit”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
    Synonyms:
    lunch-and-learn

Verb

brown bag (third-person singular simple present brown bags, present participle brown bagging, simple past and past participle brown bagged)

  1. (ambitransitive, informal) To carry one's packed lunch from home, either literally or figuratively in a brown paper bag or a lunchbox, rather than purchase it from a cafeteria or restaurant.
    • I'm brown bagging it again this month because the combination of healthy plus inexpensive is hard to beat otherwise.
  2. (ambitransitive, informal) To consume alcohol in public from the bottle or can, while it is held concealed inside a brown paper bag, so as to avoid attention e.g. from the police.
    • I'm brown bagging it again today because I haven't managed to kick this habit yet.
  3. (ambitransitive, informal) To plant seed saved from one's own harvest, as opposed to buying new seed from a seed company.
    • I'm brown bagging it again this year because I don't need to be spending money on expensive hybrids.

Synonyms of brown bag

Forms of brown bag

Noun
pluralbrown bags
alternative formbrown-bag
Verb
third-person singular presentbrown bags
present participlebrown bagging
past participlebrown bagged
pastbrown bagged

Origin of brown bag

(presentation): From the brown paper bag traditionally used to carry one's own packed lunch from home.

Words formed from brown bag

Questions about brown bag

What does brown bag mean?
Brown bag means a brown paper bag.
What part of speech is brown bag?
Brown bag can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of brown bag?
The plural of brown bag is brown bags.

Words near brown bag in the dictionary

  1. brown anoles
  2. brown argus
  3. brown arguses
  4. brown as a berry
  5. brown asbestos
  6. brown bag
  7. brown bag test
  8. brown bag tests
  9. brown bagged
  10. brown bagging
  11. brown bags

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: brown bag (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-brown bag.ogg.

Cite this entry: “brown bag.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/brown_bag. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.