carry-on

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See also: carryon, and carry on

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Deverbal from carry on.

Adjective

carry-on (not comparable)

  1. Taken onto an airplane (or a ferry, etc.) with a passenger, rather than checked.
    Synonyms: (attributively before “luggage”/“baggage”/“bag”) hand, personal, cabin, flight
    Antonym: checked
    It's a compact suitcase, but it makes a good carry-on bag.

Translations

Noun

carry-on (countable and uncountable, plural carry-ons)

  1. That luggage or baggage which is taken onto an airplane (or a ferry, etc.) with a passenger, rather than checked.
    Synonyms: hand luggage, handcarry
    Do you think they'll accept my ski poles as carry-on?
    1. A bag, suitcase, etc., used to carry this luggage or baggage.
  2. (countable, British, New Zealand) A palaver; a disorderly or absurd situation.
    • 1978 December 9, Nancy Walker, “Sexism and Racism at GCN?”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 20, page 10:
      Sometimes all this carry-on about race, religion and sex seems so petty and silly that I cannot take it seriously.
    • 2002, Lynne Graham, The Italian's Wife:
      "I love salad",she dared when it came to the next course, and then inwardly cringed when it seemed that that was actually a special order and there was such a carry-on about what kind of salad she wanted.
    • 2011 November 27, Kitty Empire, The Observer:
      The stopping, restarting, swearing and routine self-deprecation ("I'm in trouble with the vicar – eternal trouble," quips Martin) is the kind of carry-on that has fans purring with pleasure.

Translations

See also