handbagging
handbagging noun: a verbal attack or criticism. Also the present participle and gerund of handbag.
Noun
handbagging (plural handbaggings)
- 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.1994, Jonathan Petre, By Sex Divided: The Church of England and Women Priests, Fount, →ISBN, page 100
- 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.2011 December 7, Ed Miliband, “Engagements”, in Hansard, volume 537, House of Commons
- Synonyms:
- harangue, rant, tirade, animadversion, criticization, stricture, criticism, critique, dressing-down, slam
Also used as
handbagging is also the present participle and gerund of handbag.
Synonyms of handbagging
Forms of handbagging
| plural | handbaggings |
|---|
Origin of handbagging
From handbag + -ing. Originally, a metonymic reference to Margaret Thatcher's handbag.
Questions about handbagging
- What does handbagging mean?
- Handbagging means a verbal attack or criticism.
- What part of speech is handbagging?
- Handbagging is a noun.
- What is the plural of handbagging?
- The plural of handbagging is handbaggings.
Words near handbagging in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: handbagging (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:
Cite this entry: “handbagging.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/handbagging. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.