Recently, a flock of plastic bags has caught in the spindly sycamore in front of their apartment, empty bags that inflate and deflate with the wind like marooned sailing ships.

NEWYORKER: M&M World

So a head could ask any child to empty their pockets and bags to search for drugs, alcohol, or matches, but the child could refuse to do so.

BBC: Secondary pupils outside school

Critics have said police manipulate people into getting arrested by telling them to empty their pockets or bags, and then arresting them when they pull out marijuana that's then publicly visible.

NPR: NYC Plans To Stop Many Marijuana Arraignments

It forces us to empty our pockets, have our bags inspected and remove trash cans from the streets of a major international city.

CNN: It can happen anywhere

Most stations still have plastic bags wrapped around their nozzles, now the universal symbol for empty in this city.

NPR: Gas Shortages Stalled Houston Evacuation

He had driven to the Indo-Pakistani food store one city over, brought home a dozen bags of spices, and rooted around in the cupboards for empty jars to store them in.

CNN: Husband quietly captures the kitchen

It was loneliness that had led him to seek a conversation on a restaurant patio long past the lunch hour, as it was loneliness that had made her empty the refrigerator in the cottage and pack her belongings into five mega-sized black plastic garbage bags and drop them outside a Goodwill early one morning.

NEWYORKER: Alone