grab bag

See also: grabbag and grab-bag

English

Alternative forms

• grabbag, grab-bag

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

grab bag (plural grab bags)

1. A gift, purchase, etc. whose contents are concealed until after a selection is made.

   Winners can choose a gift from the grab bags on the table.

2. (figurative) Any random assortment, selection or possibility.

   Synonym: mixed bag

   With that system, it's a grab bag which files we can find at any moment.

   • 2015, Mark Ribowsky, Whiskey Bottles and Brand-New Cars:

     There were now a grab bag of southern country-rock units with a new wrinkle—Black Oak Arkansas, for one, combined psychedelia, fifties rock, Hindu spiritualism, and gospel into “psycho-boogie,” or “raunch 'n' roll.”

   • 2020 August 18, James Poniewozik, “A D.N.C. Opening Night for the New Abnormal”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     There was no location, really — most of the convention took place in a Milwaukee of the mind. […] Instead, the teleconvention kept a few standards (like the Bruce Springsteen–soundtracked montage) and borrowed from a grab bag of other TV formats, from talk show to cable news to reality-TV reunion special.

   • 2023 July 10, Zachary Woolfe, “Review: Ted Hearne’s Sweet, Sad American Elegy”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     While this piece is less scattered than Hearne’s most recent major work, “Place,” a deeply personal reflection on gentrification, “Farming,” too, feels like a grab bag into which there’s always assumed to be room for yet one more idea.

3. A moderately large bag of crisps or other snack, intended for sharing.
4. A bag containing essential items, which can be easily picked up and taken in an emergency.

   Synonyms: bug-out bag, go bag

See also

• grab box
• mixed bag
• lucky dip
• pick 'n' mix