bagwoman

[ bag-woom-uhn ]

noun

, plural bag·wom·en.

1. a woman who collects, carries, or distributes illegal payoff money.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bagwoman¹

First recorded in 1970–75; bag + -woman

Example Sentences

Once upon a time in 1960, New York Democratic Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, 56, called a Harlem housewife named Esther James a "bagwoman," meaning, in Harlem patois, that she was a graft collector for the police department.

From Time Magazine Archive

Later, in a TV interview, he called Mrs. James "a bagwoman for the police department."

From Time Magazine Archive