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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
briefcase
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
black
▪ As the patrol commander approached the door of the bank, he spotted a black briefcase leaning against a wall.
▪ Three men emerged, one carrying a black briefcase.
▪ Please would you tell the Brigadier that one-five-one is the combination that unlocks the right-hand latch of a black crocodile briefcase.
▪ She was wearing a short-sleeve cream blouse, a blue knee length skirt and black briefcase.
▪ The black briefcase was still on the floor at the back of the hanging space, under the suits.
▪ There was a black briefcase on the rear seat, but nothing else.
■ NOUN
leather
▪ They went straight into the master bedroom, where a leather briefcase stood open on the floor.
▪ His leather briefcase contained scores and a baton, but no sun block.
▪ With his back to her he opened the leather briefcase that lay there, withdrew a buff folder and refastened the briefcase.
▪ His gloved hands fingered an old leather briefcase.
■ VERB
carry
▪ He was carrying a briefcase and was walking along the cross-over on to the platform.
▪ Converse carried the briefcase through the hurrying evening crowds on Le Loi, walking as casually as he could.
▪ These are simple small disks made out of magnetic material which are small enough to be carried in a briefcase.
▪ Thursday afternoon, federal agents moved in and out of the substation carrying metal briefcases.
▪ One time I carried a briefcase, some sealed folders, an armful of maps.
▪ He carried a briefcase and was smoking a cigarette.
▪ He carried his briefcase into the house.
▪ Three men emerged, one carrying a black briefcase.
open
▪ Sliding them on to the desk, she snapped open her briefcase and took out her calculator.
▪ Pop open a briefcase or peek in a backpack and you may see a sleek cellular phone.
▪ But no, what he actually did was to open up his briefcase and extract a file from it.
▪ On arrival, he opens up the briefcase to reveal his personal transport.
▪ Amin, opening his briefcase, pulled out a grenade himself, ready to throw it if there was another attack.
▪ With his back to her he opened the leather briefcase that lay there, withdrew a buff folder and refastened the briefcase.
pick
▪ Giles was tucking his pile of books under his arm, picking up his briefcase.
▪ The Minister picked up the battered briefcase by the side of his chair and placed it on the glass table in front of him.
put
▪ He puts his green plastic briefcase on the desk.
▪ The directors watched him remove the coupons and put them in his briefcase.
▪ He stopped and carefully put down his briefcase.
take
▪ I get into a carriage and take Berlioz out of my briefcase.
▪ They took his briefcase, but gave him back his checkbooks.
▪ He took a briefcase with him, as if he were going back to the Works.
▪ Miguel came closer and took the briefcase.
▪ The princess smiled and nodded at airport officials before hurrying on board, taking with her two briefcases.
▪ Wearing an immaculate white uniform, he takes my briefcase.
▪ He took out of his briefcase a sheaf of invitations.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
hang up your hat/football boots/briefcase etc
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Converse carried the briefcase through the hurrying evening crowds on Le Loi, walking as casually as he could.
▪ He has also ditched his briefcase for a backpack to carry his dress shoes.
▪ He puts his green plastic briefcase on the desk.
▪ I rammed my books and my binders into my briefcase.
▪ It had become compact enough to sit on a desk or slip into a briefcase.
▪ Ivor thought she might have gone through his briefcase and found a letter from me.
▪ Put a copy in your locked desk drawer and another in the secret compartment of your briefcase.
▪ Simon Jay had his briefcase and cassette radio stolen from his car this morning.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
briefcase

briefcase \brief"case\ n. a small suitcase with a handle; it is used for carrying papers or files or books.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
briefcase

"portable folding case for holding papers," 1926, from brief (n.) in the paper sense + case (n.2).

Wiktionary
briefcase

n. a case used for carrying documents (especially by business people)

WordNet
briefcase

n. a case with a handle; for carrying papers or files or books

Wikipedia
Briefcase (disambiguation)

A briefcase is a case for carrying documents. The term may also refer to:

  • In computing:
    • Briefcase (Microsoft Windows)
    • Yahoo! Briefcase, formerly a free file hosting service by Yahoo!
    • Briefcase, a virtual file system used in DOS Navigator orthodox file manager
  • Briefcase, a term used in horse training to describe the act of getting the horse used to a bridle
  • The Briefcase, a CBS reality television series
  • The Briefcase (Australia), a Channel Nine reality television series
Briefcase

A briefcase is a narrow hard-sided box-shaped bag or case used mainly for carrying papers and other documents and equipped with a handle. Lawyers commonly use briefcases to carry briefs to present to a court, hence the name. Businesspeople and other professionals also use briefcases to carry usually important papers, and in more recent times electronic devices such as laptop computers and tablets.

Briefcases are descendants of the limp satchel used in the fourteenth century for carrying money and valuables. It was called a "budget", derived from the Latin word "bulga" or Irish word "bolg", both meaning leather bag (the Irish also means 'stomach'), and also the source of the financial term " budget".

Godillot of Paris was the first to use a hinged iron frame on a carpet bag in 1826. There then followed the Gladstone bag and the Rosebery, an oval-top bag. Eventually these became the modern metal-framed briefcase. The first of what is known as the modern rectangular briefcase is said to have been invented in the late 1850s. In 2014 the global business bag market was $9.4 billion.

Briefcase (Microsoft Windows)

In Microsoft Windows, the Briefcase is a special folder that supports a simple two-way file synchronization between itself and another folder. The Briefcase is designed for mobile PC users so that they may transfer it to a removable drive and have it synchronize with the computer to which the removable drive is attached. It follows the same metaphor as the file and file folder and then, while the file management tasks are performed by Windows Explorer, the briefcase behaves just like another folder, i.e. with support for copy-paste and drag-and-drop. It has additional functions and toolbar buttons for updating out-of-sync files. The Windows Briefcase was introduced in Windows 95 and was deprecated (although not removed) in Windows 8 and Windows 10.

Usage examples of "briefcase".

Inside, she picked up a briefcase, set it on the bureau top, and took out a flat box of the kind used for carrying storage chips.

He placed it in his briefcase, then headed directly for the washroom where he lathered his hands with antibacterial soap brought from home.

She gathered her take-home work, baby-sitter and child-care lists and stuffed everything into her briefcase.

The gold Rolex, the white linen bush jacket, the Thai Bhat chain around his neck, the heavy leather briefcase with combination locks on every zipper.

Kellogg was one to keep you off balance, for as she began doling out the contents of her briefcase, she explained that her sister-in-law had a bicornuate uterus.

The bookkeeper felt his legs trembling and sat on the edge of a chair, but did not forget to pick up his briefcase.

He put his jacket on, picked up his briefcase, and took the hand Brownfield extended.

Matthew Canfield leaned forward, taking the briefcase off his lap and placing it at his feet.

The briefcase came loose, and Canfield removed his hat, overcoat, and uniform jacket, throwing them on an easy chair.

As he cracked the cellophane wrapping, Miller glanced into the briefcase and noticed Corde staring at a photo taped to the inside.

The young man with the briefcase retreated ultra-nervously and in panic ran away, and Filmer, regaining control of himself, began looking around in the general direction of stewards and pressmen to see if any of them had noticed.

Grand Central Station near the taxicab entrance about two-thirty this afternoon, when this fellow Gimble shows with a suitcase and a briefcase, coming from the lower level train platforms.

Richard Haines hung up, picked up his briefcase, and moved quickly to join the throng headed for the departure gates.

In the seat to his left, Special Agent Richard Haines sat with his briefcase on his lap, reading papers by the light of a tiny overhead spot.

I laid my head on my briefcase, covering my face with my headcloth, and slept like the dead, only to be woken again and told to mount.