grab bag

grab bag

1. A bag or other container filled with various things, usually free gifts or promotional items. Primarily heard in US, Australia. For their grand opening event, the new cosmetics store gave customers a grab bag filled with coupons and free samples of their products.
2. By extension, anything that represents a variety of differing or unrelated items. My resume has a real grab bag of experience on it. I hope they can see how it applies to the position I applied for.
See also: bag, grab
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

grab bag

A miscellaneous collection, as in The meeting amounted to a grab bag of petty complaints. This term alludes to a container offered at a party or fair, where one dips in for a party favor or prize without knowing what one will get. [Mid-1800s]
See also: bag, grab
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • lucky dip
  • fit a quart into a pint pot
  • get a quart into a pint pot
  • get/pour/put a quart into a pint pot
  • pint
  • overflow with
  • quart
  • breathe into
  • breathe into (something)
  • ladies' night
References in periodicals archive
Dune Derspex natural small transparent grab bag, PS68
The features of the "Add-on Start Kit 'L' Store for USA and Canada" program: Purchase the customizable NeverLost Add-on system starting with the base units, the Gear Grab Bag, Hunting Vest and Hunting Belt and a variety of pouches and pockets.
"The hospital has a policy not to sell 'grab bags' of crisps or super-size chocolate bars and our vending machines offer diet drinks and water." In a bid to get patients and staff eating well, Liverpool's specialist brain hospital, The Walton Centre, has a fruit and vegetable barrow at the hospital twice a week.
In addition to the grab bag of classes, lessons, workshops, and RSC performances of Julius Caesar and The Two Gentlemen of Verona, the British troupe is staging its first U.S.
ALL OF MY CASH WILL BE PLACED INSIDE MY TORSO DURING THE EMBALMING, AND ALL FUNERAL ATTENDEES CAN PLAY "HUMAN GRAB BAG".
The fourth part, on Greenstone-Gneiss Belt Magmatism, highlights a grab bag of small but high-grade PGE occurrences.
Although theorists have proposed a grab bag of ideas, no one has found a convincing source of such energy.
The text is organized into three parts: the Business of Teaching, Teaching Elementary and Intermediate Students, and a "Grab Bag" of Ideas for All Levels of Teaching.
Written by Maria Jimenez, an otherwise seemingly competent journalist, it was a grab bag of anecdotal evidence from some former Canadian priests now living the "gay" lifestyle, together with quotes from books here and there.
The material he has chosen is rather unusual, too--half of the compositions are originals that sound, in their contemplative and almost moody tone, as if they were written specifically for this low-key context, but the remainder are a grab bag of jazz standards and pop song melodies.
Furthermore, it is extremely unlikely that this grab bag will share the same hardware or infrastructure any time soon.
There are several categories for submissions including letters, world word, field trip, and grab bag. Visit http://www.worddance.com for more information.
Headed by Chile's third-richest man, 86-year-old Italian immigrant Anacleto Angelini, AntarChile is a typical Latin American industrial portfolio group, a family-owned (and run) grab bag of investments, some of which lose money and some of which can't make it fast enough.
* Grab Bag. Firms pursuing the Grab Bag strategy distribute a variety of information types across different channels.
If we use your question, we'll send you a gift from our grab bag of goodies.