sack
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /sæk/
rhymes: -æk
homophone: sac
homophone: SAC
Forms: form: sacks
Etymology: From Middle English sak, sek, sach, zech (“bag, sackcloth”), from Old English sacc (“sack, bag”) and sæċċ (“sackcloth, sacking”); both from Proto-West Germanic *sakku, from late Proto-Germanic *sakkuz (“sack”), borrowed from Latin saccus (“large bag”), from Ancient Greek σάκκος (sákkos, “bag of coarse cloth”), from Semitic, possibly Phoenician or Hebrew.
Cognate with Dutch zak, German Sack, Swedish säck, Danish sæk, Hebrew שַׂק (śaq, “sack, sackcloth”), Aramaic סַקָּא, Classical Syriac ܣܩܐ, Ge'ez ሠቅ (śäḳ), Akkadian 𒆭𒊓 (saqqu), Egyptian sꜣgꜣ. Doublet of sac, saccus, saco, and sakkos.
Černý and Forbes suggest the word was originally Egyptian, a nominal derivative of sꜣq (“to gather or put together”) that also yielded Coptic ⲥⲟⲕ (sok, “sackcloth”) and was borrowed into Greek perhaps by way of a Semitic intermediary. However, Vycichl and Hoch reject this idea, noting that such an originally Egyptian word would be expected to yield Hebrew *סַק rather than שַׂק. Instead, they posit that the Coptic and Greek words are both borrowed from Semitic, with the Coptic word perhaps developing via Egyptian sꜣgꜣ.
Sense evolution
* “Pillage” senses from the use of sacks in carrying off plunder. From Middle French sac, shortened from the phrase mettre à sac (“put it in a bag”), a military command to pillage; also parallel meaning with Italian sacco (“plunder”), from Medieval Latin saccō (“pillage”). From Vulgar Latin saccare (“to plunder”), from saccus (“sack”). See also ransack. American football “tackle” sense from this “plunder, conquer” root.
* “Removal from employment” senses attested since 1825; the original formula was “to give (someone) the sack”, likely from the notion of a worker going off with his tools in a sack, or being given such a sack for his personal belongings as part of an expedient severance. Idiom exists earlier in French (on luy a donné son sac, 17c.) and Middle Dutch (iemand den zak geven). English verb in this sense recorded from 1841. Current verb, to sack (“to fire”) carries influence from the forceful nature of “plunder, tackle” verb senses.
* Slang meaning “bunk, bed” is attested since 1825, originally nautical, likely in reference to sleeping bags. The verb meaning “go to bed” is recorded from 1946.
* Slang meaning "scrotum" is an ellipsis of ballsack.
Senses: glosses: A bag; especially a large bag of strong, coarse material for storage and handling of various commodities, such as potatoes, coal, coffee; or, a bag with handles used at a supermarket, a grocery sack; or, a small bag for small items, a satchel.
examples: text: The American sack of salt is 215 pounds; the sack of wheat, two bushels. — McElrath.
text: Seven pounds make a clove, 2 cloves a stone, 2 stone a tod, 6 1/2 tods a wey, 2 weys a sack, 12 sacks a last. [...] It is to be observed here that a sack is 13 tods, and a tod 28 pounds, so that the sack is 364 pounds.
ref: 1843, The Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, volume 27, page 202:
text: Generally, however, the stone or petra, almost always of 14 lbs., is used, the tod of 28 lbs., and the sack of thirteen stone.
ref: 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, page 209:
glosses: The amount a sack holds; also, an archaic or historical measure of varying capacity, depending on commodity type and according to local usage; an old English measure of weight, usually of wool, equal to 13 stone (182 pounds), or in other sources, 26 stone (364 pounds).
examples: text: the sack of Rome
glosses: The plunder and pillaging of a captured town or city.
glosses: Loot or booty obtained by pillage.
topics: American-football
ball-games
football
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A successful tackle of the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage.
examples: text: He twisted his ankle sliding into the sack at second.
topics: ball-games
baseball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: One of the square bases anchored at first base, second base, or third base.
examples: text: give (someone) the sack
text: get the sack
text: The boss is gonna give her the sack today.
text: He got the sack for being late all the time.
text: A climate researcher has been threatened with the sack by his employer after refusing to fly back to Germany at short notice after finishing fieldwork on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands archipelago.
ref: 2023 October 4, Damien Gayle, Ajit Niranjan, “Climate scientist faces sack for refusing to fly to Germany from Solomon Islands archipelago”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
glosses: Dismissal from employment, or discharge from a position.
examples: text: hit the sack
text: in the sack
glosses: Bed.
examples: text: Molly, therefore, having dressed herself out in this sack, with a new laced cap, and some other ornaments which Tom had given her, repairs to church with her fan in her hand the very next Sunday.
ref: 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter VII, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book IV:
text: Her Dress, too, was of the same cast, a thin muslin short sacque and Coat lined throughout with Pink, – a modesty bit – and something of a very short cloak half concealed about half of her old wrinkled Neck […].
ref: 1780, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin, published 2001, page 151:
text: This lady's interesting figure, on her wedding-day, was attired in a sacque and petticoat of the most expensive brocaded white silk, resembling net-work, enriched with small flowers […].
ref: 1828, JT Smith, Nollekens and His Times, Century Hutchinson, published 1986, page 13:
related: word: sacque
glosses: A kind of loose-fitting gown or dress with sleeves which hangs from the shoulders, such as a gown with a Watteau back or sack-back, fashionable in the late 17th to 18th century; or, formerly, a loose-fitting hip-length jacket, cloak or cape.
glosses: A sack coat; a kind of coat worn by men, and extending from top to bottom without a cross seam.
examples: text: He got passed the ball, but it hit him in the sack.
glosses: The scrotum.
glosses: Any disposable bag.
Synonyms: sense: bag
word: bag
sense: bag
word: tote
sense: bag
word: poke
sense: booty obtained by pillage
word: booty
sense: informal: dismissal from employment
word: the axe
word: pink slip
word: the boot
word: the chop
word: the elbow
word: one's cards
word: the old heave-ho
sense: colloquial: bed
word: hay
word: rack
sense: vulgar slang: scrotum
word: scrotum
Hyponyms: sense: bag
word: bindle
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: back, crack and sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: ballsack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: ball sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: ballsac
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: barley sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: bivouac sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: bollock sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: cat in the sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: coalsack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: cock sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: cornsack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: crapsack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: crocker sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: dressing sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: dub sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: dumb as a sack of bricks
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: dumb as a sack of hammers
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: dumber than a sack of bricks
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: fart sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: floursack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: get the sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: give the sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: go down like a sack of potatoes
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: gripsack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: gunny sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: gunnysack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: hacky sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: hackysack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: Hacky-Sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: hackeysack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: halter-sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: happy sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: hit the sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: honey sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: hopsack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: in the sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: like rats in a sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: loiter-sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: mailsack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: more sacks to the mill
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: nap sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: nutsack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: packsack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: possibles sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sack-back
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sack barrow
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sackcloth
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sack dress
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sack drill
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sackful
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sacking
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sack knot
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sacklike
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sackload
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sack lunch
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sack man
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sack of crap
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sack of flesh
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sack of shit
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sack o' shit
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sack race
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sack silo
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sack-tap
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sack time
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sack truck
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sack-whack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sackwise
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sad sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: Santa sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: shitsack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sleepsack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: sperm sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: stuff sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: ten sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: tent-sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: toe sack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: towsack
sense: Terms derived from sack (noun)
word: Zdarsky tent-sack
Related terms: haversack
knapsack
rucksack
sac
sachet
sack off
sack up
satchel