baggage

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The bags and cases you take with you when travelling.

   Please collect your baggage from carousel three.

2. 2
   noun

   Past experiences or feelings that cause problems in the present.

   He carries a lot of emotional baggage from his childhood.

From Middle English bagage, from Old French bagage, baguage, from bague (“bundle, sack”), of Germanic/North Germanic origin, probably from the same ultimate source as Old Norse baggi (“pack, bundle”). Compare also bag. By surface analysis, bag + -age. The old meaning of "nasty woman" likely derives from the sense of "something awkward to be carried" (compare faggot).

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