grab bag

American  

noun

1. a container or receptacle from which a person at a party or the like draws a gift without knowing what it is.

2. any miscellaneous collection.

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grab bag British  

noun

1. a collection of miscellaneous things

2. a bag or other container from which gifts are drawn at random

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grab bag Idioms  

1. 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]

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Etymology

Origin of grab bag

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55

Example Sentences

Its experience of video podcast ads so far has been a grab bag of host reads to camera, recording combined with static images, and some fully produced segments, she said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 17, 2025

“Perfect World” is the grab bag of the lot.

From Salon • Jul. 8, 2025

After morning break, Mrs Curtis is putting together a grab bag for an eight-year-old pupil whose mum rang the school earlier to let them know they've had to leave their home in a hurry.

From BBC • Jan. 28, 2025

It’s mostly a grab bag of targeted subsidies: for parents of small children, for first-time homebuyers, for small businesses, for manufacturing and technology.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 30, 2024

We’re lucky that English, with its stretchy grammar and its giant grab bag of a vocabulary, gives us so much room for verbal play, if not anarchy.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner