carpetbagger

UK: /ˈkɑːpɪtˌbæɡə/ US: /ˈkɑrpɪtˌbægɚ/ ,(kär′pit bag′ər)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

car•pet•bag•ger /ˈkɑrpɪtˌbægɚ/   n. [countable]

1. American History a Northerner who went to the South after the Civil War to exploit the confused conditions:
   Carpetbaggers got their name from the little bags made of carpet material that they carried their belongings in.
2. American History any person, esp. a politician, who moves to a new place to live only to advance a political career.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

car•pet•bag•ger  (kär′pit bag′ər), n. 

1. American History [U.S. Hist.] a Northerner who went to the South after the Civil War and became active in Republican politics, esp. so as to profiteer from the unsettled social and political conditions of the area during Reconstruction.
2. American History any opportunistic or exploitive outsider:
   Our bus company has served this town for years, but now the new one run by carpetbaggers from the city is stealing our business.

• 1865–70, American; carpetbag + -er¹; so called because they came South carrying their belongings in carpetbags

car′pet•bag′ger•y, n. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

carpetbagger / ˈkɑːpɪtˌbæɡə/ noun

1. a politician who seeks public office in a locality where he or she has no real connections
2. a person who makes a short-term investment in a mutual savings or life-assurance organization in order to benefit from free shares issued following the organization's conversion to a public limited company