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holdall

UK/ˈhəʊldɔːl/US/ˈhoʊldɔːl/
nounB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #15,065 of 15,258leans spoken

A holdall is a large soft bag for carrying clothes. Pack a holdall, a canvas holdall, throw it in the holdall.

It is British, and America says duffel bag for much the same thing. The name is exactly what it does, and it is the standard bag for a weekend away because it takes an awkward shape without complaint.

Wrigglehouse · CC BY-SA 4.0

Definitions of holdall

  1. 1nounholdallA large soft bag for carrying clothes.B2+

    “He threw his gym kit into a holdall and headed out.”

holdall is a bag.

Also accepted in games: duffel bag

Where it comes from

Hold plus all, a British compound naming the bag by what it does.

hold + all.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Containers & Packaging

Practise this word

holdall in the wild

  • In British English, a holdall (or occasionally hold-all) may be a similar bag but may often have wheels and possibly a telescopic handle.

    Holdall

  • The device, left in a holdall, caused five injuries and damaged the premises.

    Biddy Mulligan's pub bombing

  • A bomb was placed in a holdall outside Dixons Photographic shop on Park Street which exploded just before 8 pm.

    1974 Bristol bombing

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.