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sack

[sak]

Example Sentences Origin

noun

a large bag of strong, coarsely woven material, as for grain, potatoes, or coal.

the amount a sack holds.

a bag: a sack of candy.

Slang. dismissal or discharge, as from a job: to get the sack.

Slang. bed: I bet he's still in the sack.

EXPAND

Also, sacque.

a loose-fitting dress, as a gown with a Watteau back, especially one fashionable in the late 17th century and much of the 18th century.

a loose-fitting coat, jacket, or cape.

Baseball. a base.

South Midland U.S. the udder of a cow.

COLLAPSE

verb (used with object)

to put into a sack or sacks.

10.

Football. to tackle (the quarterback) behind the line of scrimmage before the quarterback is able to throw a pass.

11.

Slang. to dismiss or discharge, as from a job.

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Sack is always a great word to know.

So is eighty-six. Does it mean:

to refuse to serve at a bar or restaurant; to be thrown out of or forbidden from an establishment

raucous or querulous speech; a noisy, foolish utterance

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Verb phrase

12.

sack out, Slang. to go to bed; fall asleep.

Idioms

13.

hit the sack, Slang. to go to bed; go to sleep: He never hits the sack before midnight.

14.

hold the sack. bag (def. 26).

Origin:
before 1000; 1940–45 for def. 5; Middle English sak (noun), sakken (v.), Old English sacc (noun) < Latin saccus bag, sackcloth < Greek sákkos < Semitic; compare Hebrew śaq

Related forms

sack·like, adjective

Regional variation note
See bag.

Example Sentences

Inside, it has a built-in insulated lunch sack and a mesh ice pack pouch and beverage holder.

And now here he is with a wife and kids to support and the threat of the sack.

But opening a fresh sack of rubbish to reveal millions of squirming maggots, she turns away as if to stop herself gagging.

EXPAND

Inside, it has a built-in insulated lunch sack and a mesh ice pack pouch and beverage holder.

And now here he is with a wife and kids to support and the threat of the sack.

But opening a fresh sack of rubbish to reveal millions of squirming maggots, she turns away as if to stop herself gagging.

Fill the sack with packing peanuts until it's completely.

Astrobiologists study living organisms to determine what makes them more than a sack of proteins, lipids, and sugars.

Never mind that an adult pedaling a trike is the silliest sight this side of a sack race.

He said as the plant matures, you can roll down the sack to harvest young spuds and leave the plant growing for longer.

The gadget hound is always searching for the perfect bag, a sack in which to sling cameras, computers and cellphones.

He had on a black broadcloth sack coat, satin vest, and a white shirt.

When you go shopping, you don't take something off the rack, throw it in the sack and go home.

First he announced plans to sack a fifth of the firm's sales force.

For this reason, a light, silk sleep sack is the perfect accoutrement for a stay in a hut.

Remedy: sack all those scientists who back the global warming scam.

Leading the way is a middle-aged man carrying gold jewelry, a sack of coins and the keys to his house.

It's also a shoulder-saving solution, a sack to shuttle a computer, a camera and a bunch.

The combination of feeling nothing at all and thinking the world is out to get to you can be deadly in the sack.

Pressure on him to sack his two ministers and the police chief is mounting.

Somehow he'd survived the night, without even a bivouac sack for protection.

Each man also carried a twelve-pound sack of bread and a bottle of wine.

The volume of the sack controls the water-to-cement ratio, eliminating the need for water measurement.

Old foreign-policy hands argue that it is foolish to appoint somebody you cannot sack.

And let me tell you, after three hours in the car, a greasy brown paper sack never looked so good.

In space, no one can smell the drifting interstellar cloud of patchouli oil or catch the cosmic hacky sack.

But pressure to sack her will grow, and there is already speculation as to whom he might choose to replace her.

The last sack of grain stuck in the grotto's narrow entrance-and likely saved all their lives.

There's no time machines, unless you count the degrading sack of pimply skin and burst.

And they are plagued by rigidities that make it hard to hire the best or sack the worst.

It stuffs into a compact little sack about the size of a small melon.

The important thing is that the new sack of money is bigger.

We also discovered there's no way to remove the leg sack without taking the jacket off.

He should have moved faster to sack ministers in the wake of the telecoms scandal.

The sack contains more than the usual extra set of foam earpads and cable clip.

Some even talk of getting the right to sack board members, if a majority of investors are in favour.

Compression stuff sack features an easy-to-grip integrated handle.

Unions have also made it almost impossible to sack incompetent workers.

Built from heavy nylon, the sack is only a half step away from the spartan messenger bags you probably toted in college.

With that control he could, in theory, sack the board of directors if they try to oust him as chairman.

Andrew, the poor poppet, was suffering greatly from using his computer in the sack.

Making it easier to sack employees could potentially reverse this dynamic.

Tie a length of twine around the egg sack and pull it tight.

Their hours have not been cut, their benefits are gold-plated and they are almost impossible to sack.

Rather, he might get really quick-footed after a sack or decide to pull off a tuck-and-roll.

Someone should create a protector for your ball sack that can keep them cool while in the bath.

They're so tight, you'd be lucky to fit a sack of groceries in the back.

Each person pulls a little animal figurine out of the sack and makes the animal's sound.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

verb (used with object)

to pillage or loot after capture; plunder: to sack a city.

noun

the plundering of a captured place; pillage: the sack of Troy.

Origin:
1540–50; < Middle French phrase mettre à sac to put to pillage; sac, in this sense < Italian sacco looting, loot, shortened form of saccomano < Middle High German sakman pillager (conformed to sacco sack¹)

Synonyms
1. spoil, despoil. See rob. 2. looting; destruction, ruin.

noun

a strong light-colored wine formerly imported from Spain and the canary Islands.

Origin:
1525–35; < French (vin) sec dry (wine) < Latin siccus dry; compare sec¹

Link To sack

Collins

World English Dictionary

sack¹ (sæk)

—n
1.	a large bag made of coarse cloth, thick paper, etc, used as a container
2.	Also called: sackful the amount contained in a sack, sometimes used as a unit of measurement
3.	a. a woman's loose tube-shaped dress
	b. Also called: sacque a woman's full loose hip-length jacket, worn in the 18th and mid-20th centuries
4.	short for rucksack
5.	(Austral) cricket Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): bye a run scored off a ball not struck by the batsman: allotted to the team as an extra and not to the individual batsman
6.	informal the sack dismissal from employment
7.	a slang word for bed
8.	slang hit the sack to go to bed
9.	(NZ) rough as sacks uncouth

—vb
10.	informal to dismiss from employment
11.	to put into a sack or sacks

[Old English sacc, from Latin saccus bag, from Greek sakkos; related to Hebrew saq]

'sacklike¹

—*adj*

sack² (sæk)

—n
1.	the plundering of a place by an army or mob, usually involving destruction, slaughter, etc
2.	American football a tackle on a quarterback which brings him down before he has passed the ball

—vb
3.	(tr) to plunder and partially destroy (a place)
4.	American football to tackle and bring down a quarterback before he has passed the ball

[C16: from French phrase mettre à sac, literally: to put (loot) in a sack, from Latin saccussack¹]

'sacker²

—n

sack³ (sæk)

—n
	archaic or trademark any dry white wine formerly imported into Britain from SW Europe

[C16 wyne seck, from French vin sec dry wine, from Latin siccus dry]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

sack

"large bag," O.E. sacc (W.Saxon), sec (Mercian), sæc (Old Kentish) "large cloth bag," also "sackcloth," from P.Gmc. *sakkiz (cf. M.Du. sak, O.H.G. sac, O.N. sekkr, but Goth. sakkus probably is directly from Gk.), an early borrowing from L. saccus (cf. O.Fr. sac, Sp. saco, It. sacco), from Gk. sakkos,

EXPAND

from Semitic (cf. Heb. saq "sack"). The wide spread of the word is probably due to the story of Joseph. Slang meaning "bunk, bed" is from 1825, originally nautical. The verb meaning "go to bed" is recorded from 1946.

sack

"a dismissal from work," 1825, from sack (n.1), perhaps from the notion of the worker going off with his tools in a bag; the original formula was to give (someone) the sack. It is attested earlier in Fr. (on luy a donné son sac, 17c.) and M.Du. (iemand den zak geven).

The verb is recorded from 1841.

sack

"sherry," 1531, alteration of Fr. vin sec "dry wine," from L. siccus "dry."

COLLAPSE

sack

"to plunder," 1549, from M.Fr. sac, in the phrase mettre à sac "put it in a bag," a military leader's command to his troops to plunder a city (parallel to It. sacco, with the same range of meaning), from V.L. *saccare "to plunder," originally "to put plundered things into a sack," from L. saccus

EXPAND

"bag" (see sack (n.1)). The notion is probably of putting booty in a bag. This is the root of the verb in the U.S. football sense (1969).

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

sack

In addition to the idiom beginning with sack, also see get the ax (sack); hit the hay (sack); sad sack.

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