Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To take (lunch) to work, typically in a brown paper bag.
  • transitive verb To take (liquor) into a public establishment, such as a restaurant, that does not serve alcohol.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb US To bring one's lunch to work or school in a brown paper bag

Etymologies

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Examples

  • If you brown-bag it to work, bring raw vegetables as a side dish.

    How am I supposed to eat all those fruits and vegetables? 2010

  • But he said he also meets once a month with agency staffers for brown-bag lunches, without managers present, to solicit opinions that might differ from his own.

    Nuclear Regulator Defends Move on Waste Site Stephen Power 2011

  • The businesses will get monthly support by way of training, networking, web series and brown-bag lunch talks.

    Let the Arlington Green Games begin Erica Johnston 2010

  • Pick a day to go meatless, for instance, or go for a walk, brown-bag your lunch, climb the stairs instead of taking the elevator, use one spoonful of sugar instead of two.

    Family Kitchen: Looking forward to these resolutions 2011

  • If you brown-bag your lunch better for your body, your wallet, and the planet, make a sandwich and a half with lean protein on whole grain bread.

    Deborah Chud: Six Steps to a Healthy 2012 Deborah Chud 2012

  • Christian Adams also identify Ms. Fernandes as having explicitly told a brown-bag lunch gathering of the entire Voting Section that the administration would not enforce the list maintenance provisions of Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act "NVRA".

    New Black Panther Party case: The facts are in Jennifer Rubin 2011

  • If you brown-bag your lunch better for your body, your wallet, and the planet, make a sandwich and a half with lean protein on whole grain bread.

    Deborah Chud: Six Steps to a Healthy 2012 Deborah Chud 2012

  • I remember several brown-bag lunches hosted by him inside UN headquarters where I would expound on why the UN should be doing better, and Annabi, in the courteous way of a Mediterranean official with the best Parisian education, would explain to me that I was partly wrong and that where I was right it was not the UN's fault.

    Hédi Annabi, 1949-2010 nwhyte 2010

  • If you brown-bag your lunch better for your body, your wallet, and the planet, make a sandwich and a half with lean protein on whole grain bread.

    Deborah Chud: Six Steps to a Healthy 2012 Deborah Chud 2012

  • On a quiet corner in a neighborhood of brick façades and architecture offices north of the Financial District, Cotogna "quince" in Italian offers two daytime options—a sit-down menu composed largely of pasta and pizza, and a recently launched brown-bag menu for takeout.

    Cotogna Vauhini Vara 2011

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