Abindle is a small bag or sack used for carrying personal belongings.
Bindles are stereotypically depicted in American culture as a cloth bundle tied to the end of a stick and carried over the shoulder byhobos, especially in imagery of theGreat Depression.[1] In this way, the weight of the burden is transferred to the shoulder, which allowed for a longer-lasting and more comfortable grip, which was especially useful with larger and heavier loads. One example of the stick-type bindle can be seen in the illustration entitledThe Runaway created byNorman Rockwell for the cover of the September 20, 1958, edition ofThe Saturday Evening Post.[2]
In cartoons, the bindles' sacks usually have apolka-dot orbandanna design. Though bindles are practically gone, they are still widely seen in popular culture as a prevalentanachronism.
A hobo who carried a bindle was known as abindlestiff. According toJames Blish in his novelA Life for the Stars, a bindlestiff was specifically a hobo who had stolen another hobo's bindle, from the colloquialismstiff, as in steal.[page needed]
The termbindle may be an alteration of the term "bundle" or similarly descend from theGerman wordBündel, meaning something wrapped up in a blanket and bound by cord for carrying (cf. originallyMiddle Dutchbundel), or have arisen as a portmanteau ofbind andspindle.[3] It may also be from the Scottish dialectalbindle "cord or rope to bind things".[4]
Bindle is also a term used inforensics. It is the name for a piece of paper folded into an envelope orpacket to hold trace evidence: hairs, fibers or powders.[5] Similarly,bindle is sometimes used to describe a small package of powdered drugs.
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