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Handbag vs Tote - What's the difference?

handbag | tote |

As nouns the difference between handbag and tote

is that handbag is a small bag used by women (or sometimes by men) for carrying various small personal items while tote is a bag, specifically a tote bag.

As verbs the difference between handbag and tote

is that handbag is figuratively, to hit with a handbag; to attack verbally or subject to criticism (used originally of Margaret Thatcher) while tote is to carry or bear.

handbag

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (mainly Commonwealth) A small bag used by women (or sometimes by men) for carrying various small personal items.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps, with something of the stately pose which Richter has given his Queen Louise on the stairway, and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.}}
  • (uncountable) An anthemic subgenre of house music of the late 1980s, often with booming vocals.
  • Synonyms

    * (bag used by women) purse (North American) * (subgenre of house music) diva house, handbag house

    Hyponyms

    * man-bag, murse

    Derived terms

    * handbags at ten paces * hardbag * man-bag

    Verb

    (handbagg)
  • (British, transitive, humorous) Figuratively, to hit with a handbag; to attack verbally or subject to criticism (used originally of ).
  • tote

    English

    (wikipedia tote)

    Etymology 1

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A bag, specifically a tote bag.
  • A heavy burden.
  • Verb

    (tot)
  • To carry or bear.
  • *, chapter=8
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=We toted in the wood and got the fire going nice and comfortable. Lord James still set in one of the chairs and Applegate had cabbaged the other and was hugging the stove.}}

    Etymology 2

    Shortening of (total), with e to distinguish from (tot) in writing

    Alternative forms

    * tot

    Verb

    (tot)
  • To add up; to calculate a total.
  • Etymology 3

    Shortening of (totalizator)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (British) A pari-mutuel machine; a totalizator
  • *1892 , Banjo Paterson,
  • *:He was a humorist of note and keen at repartee,
  • *:He laid the odds and kept a "tote ", whatever that may be,