bindle

English

Rhymes: -ɪndəl
(Received Pronunciation) enPR: bĭnʹdl, bĭnʹdəl, IPA^(key): /ˈbɪndl/,^[1] /ˈbɪndəl/,^[1]
Audio (General Australian): (file)

Unknown; compare Old English bindele (“a binding, a tying”)^[2] from bindan (“to bind”), and bundle. Additionally, compare mister from master.

bindle (plural bindles)

(now Scotland)^[2] Any given length of cord, rope, twine, etc, used to bind something.^[2]

The front hobo carries a bindle on the end of a stick.

Several bindles of cocaine

Probably a corruption of bundle; perhaps influenced by the preceding word bindle meaning "length of cord used to bind something".^[1]

bindle (plural bindles)

(US and Canada slang) A bundle carried by a hobo (usually containing his possessions), often on a stick slung over the shoulder; a blanket roll.^[1]
- 2006, Cormac McCarthy, The Road, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN:
  [L]astly he made a bindle in a plastic tarp of some cans of juice and cans of fruit and cans of vegetables […]
(Canada, US, slang) Any bundle or package; specifically one containing narcotics such as cocaine, heroin, or morphine.^[1]

Terms derived from the sense a tramp’s bedding roll^[1]

tramp's or itinerant's bundle

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 ^1.4 ^1.5 “bindle²” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2^nd Ed.; 1989]
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 “ˈbindle¹” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2^nd Ed.; 1989]