baggage

n.

1. The trunks, bags, parcels, and suitcases in which one carries one's belongings while traveling; luggage.
2. The movable equipment and supplies of an army.
3. Superfluous or burdensome practices, regulations, ideas, or traits.
4. 1. A woman prostitute.
   2. An impudent girl or woman.

[Middle English bagage, from Old French bague, bundle, perhaps of Germanic origin. Sense 4, perhaps from French bagasse, from Provençal bagassa, ultimately from Arabic baġīy, prostitute, from baġā, to fornicate.]

noun

A vulgar promiscuous woman who flouts propriety: hussy, jade, slattern, slut, tart, tramp, wanton, wench, whore. Slang floozy. See sex/asexual.

Generic term covering the portable equipment of an army. In the ancient world the logistic needs of armies were relatively straightforward compared to the complex array matériel needed today. Despite this any prolonged campaigning of significant size required some means of keeping supplies and equipment up with the fighting force. Xenophon refers to twenty days of provision, mostly dried and concentrated foodstuffs being transported with the Greek army.

The Roman army baggage train contained all the features of subsequent logistic tails—food, ammunition, and specialist equipment. When on campaign the Roman legions used pack animals to transport the ten-man tents used by the legionnaires and spare missiles for the archers, slingers, and catapults. It is also recorded that Caesar used shovels from his baggage train to dig his army through snow drifts.

The Byzantine army developed a well-equipped baggage train system. For every sixteen infantrymen there was a cart containing ‘a hand-mill, a bill hook, a saw, two spades, a mallet, a large, wicker basket, a scythe, and two pick axes’ (Leo VI, ‘the Wise’, Tactica, c.900). During the Middle Ages this degree of complexity in logistics was relatively rare. The few carts that followed European armies were a disorganized affair seldom containing the amount of foodstuffs needed for the troops. This inevitably led to plundering. French camp followers at the battle of Agincourt famously attacked the English baggage, causing Henry V to order the massacre of prisoners taken in the battle.

As armies became larger so did their baggage trains. By the beginning of the 17th century Maurice of Nassau took 3, 000 wagons with him to support 24, 000 men and the Spanish general Spinola had over 2, 000 for just 15, 000 men. When armies consisted of fairly limited numbers of missile weapons ammunition only formed a minor part of the baggage train; with the introduction of widespread firearm use this changed. During the British civil wars the parliamentarian New Model Army needed over a thousand horses to move its artillery and baggage train.

Baggage trains did not just consist of the essentials for waging war such as provisions and ammunition. The personnel effects of officers often comprised a significant portion of the baggage train's total. The royalists under Charles I had a train which included ‘light ladies of pleasure’. The business opportunities offered by a large army were often hard to resist.

The speed by which armies could move was usually restricted by the pace of advance that could be achieved by its baggage train. The inadequacies of the road network in Europe meant that, such as they were, they were usually only passable during the summer. Whole armies traversing the same road quickly found themselves wading through mud. Even in good weather most armies could only manage between 8 and 10 miles (13 and 16 km) per day. The limits placed on strategic mobility by the inadequacies of the baggage train system led to the development of a magazine network though they continued in the guise of supply trains.

— Jon Robb-Webb

IN BRIEF: The trunks or suitcases that a person takes on a trip.

They picked up their baggage at the airport.

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - bagage

Nederlands (Dutch)
bagage, meid, draagbare legeruitrusting

Français (French)
n. - bagages, (Mil) équipement, coquine (arch, fam)

Deutsch (German)
n. - Gepäck

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αποσκευές, μπαγκάζια, σκευή (συν. άχρηστες ιδέες ή μέθοδοι), αχαϊρευτη γυναίκα, αναιδές κορίτσι

Italiano (Italian)
bagaglio

Português (Portuguese)
n. - bagagem (f), impedimento (m)

Русский (Russian)
багаж

Español (Spanish)
n. - equipaje, bagaje

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - bagage

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
行李, 辎重

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 行李, 輜重

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 수화물, 가방

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 手荷物, かばん, 不品行な女, 生意気な女, 信念, おてんば

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) أمتعه, حقائب‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מיטען, מזווד, חבילות, ציוד צבאי, נערה שובבה, חפצים שנארזו במזוודה, נטל רוחני‬

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baggage