sack definition | Dictionary.com

sack

1 [sak]

–noun

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

2.	the amount a sack holds.

3.	a bag: a sack of candy.

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

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

Also, sacque.

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

b.	a loose-fitting coat, jacket, or cape.

7.	Baseball. a base.

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

–verb (used with object)

9.	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.

—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:
bef. 1000; 1940–45 for def. 5; ME sak (n.), sakken (v.), OE sacc (n.) < L saccus bag, sackcloth < Gk sákkos < Sem; cf. Heb śaq

Related forms:

sacklike, adjective

Regional variation note:
See bag.

sack

2 [sak]

–verb (used with object)

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

–noun

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

Origin:
1540–50; < MF phrase mettre à sac to put to pillage; sac, in this sense < It sacco looting, loot, shortened form of saccomano < MHG sakman pillager (conformed to sacco sack ¹ )

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

sack

3 [sak]

–noun

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

Origin:
1525–35; < F (vin) sec dry (wine) < L siccus dry; cf. sec ¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To sack

sack¹ (sāk)

1. A large bag of strong coarse material for holding objects in bulk.
2. A similar container of paper or plastic.
3. The amount that such a container can hold.
also sacque A short loose-fitting garment for women and children.
Slang Dismissal from employment: finally got the sack after a year of ineptitude.
Informal A bed, mattress, or sleeping bag.
Baseball A base.
Football A successful attempt at sacking the quarterback.

tr.v. sacked, sack·ing, sacks

To place into a sack.
Slang To discharge from employment. See Synonyms at dismiss.
Football To tackle (a quarterback attempting to pass the ball) behind the line of scrimmage.

Phrasal Verb(s):
sack out Slang To sleep.

[Middle English, from Old English sacc, from Latin saccus, from Greek sakkos, of Semitic origin; see śqq in Semitic roots.]

Word History: The ordinary word sack carries within it a few thousand years of commercial history. Sack, which probably goes back to Middle Eastern antiquity, has a long history because it and its ancestors denoted an object used in trade between various peoples. Thus the Greeks got their word sakkos, "a bag made out of coarse cloth or hair," from the Phoenicians with whom they traded. We do not know the Phoenician word, but we know words that are akin to it, such as Hebrew śaq and Akkadian saqqu. The Greeks then passed the sack, as it were, to the Latin-speaking Romans, who transmitted their word saccus, "a large bag or sack," to the Germanic tribes with whom they traded, who gave it the form *sakkiz (other peoples have also taken this word from Greek or Latin, including speakers of Welsh, Russian, Polish, and Albanian). The speakers of Old English, a Germanic language, used two forms of the word, sæc, from *sakkiz, and sacc, directly from Latin; the second Old English form is the ancestor of our sack.

sack² (sāk)

tr.v. sacked, sack·ing, sacks
To rob of goods or valuables, especially after capture.
n.

The looting or pillaging of a captured city or town.
Plunder; loot.

[Probably from French (mettre à) sac, (to put in) a sack, from Old French sac, sack, from Latin saccus, sack, bag; see sack¹.]

sack³ (sāk)

n. Any of various light, dry, strong wines from Spain and the Canary Islands, imported to England in the 16th and 17th centuries.

[From French (vin) sec, dry (wine), from Old French, from Latin siccus, dry.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Sack

Sack\ (s[scr]k), n. [OE. seck, F. sec dry (cf. Sp. seco, It. secco), from L. siccus dry, harsh; perhaps akin to Gr. 'ischno`s, Skr. sikata sand, Ir. sesc dry, W. hysp. Cf. Desiccate.] A name formerly given to various dry Spanish wines. "Sherris sack." --Shak.

Sack posset, a posset made of sack, and some other ingredients.

Sack

Sack\, n. [OE. sak, sek, AS. sacc, s[ae]cc, L. saccus, Gr. sa`kkos from Heb. sak; cf. F. sac, from the Latin. Cf. Sac, Satchel, Sack to plunder.]

1. A bag for holding and carrying goods of any kind; a receptacle made of some kind of pliable material, as cloth, leather, and the like; a large pouch.

2. A measure of varying capacity, according to local usage and the substance. The American sack of salt is 215 pounds; the sack of wheat, two bushels. --McElrath.

3. [Perhaps a different word.] Originally, a loosely hanging garment for women, worn like a cloak about the shoulders, and serving as a decorative appendage to the gown; now, an outer garment with sleeves, worn by women; as, a dressing sack. [Written also sacque.]

4. A sack coat; a kind of coat worn by men, and extending from top to bottom without a cross seam.

5. (Biol.) See 2d Sac, 2.

Sack bearer (Zo["o]l.). See Basket worm, under Basket.

Sack tree (Bot.), an East Indian tree (Antiaris saccidora) which is cut into lengths, and made into sacks by turning the bark inside out, and leaving a slice of the wood for a bottom.

To give the sack to or get the sack, to discharge, or be discharged, from employment; to jilt, or be jilted. [Slang]

Sack

Sack\, v. t. 1. To put in a sack; to bag; as, to sack corn.

Bolsters sacked in cloth, blue and crimson. --L. Wallace.

2. To bear or carry in a sack upon the back or the shoulders. [Colloq.]

Sack

Sack\, n. [F. sac plunder, pillage, originally, a pack, packet, booty packed up, fr. L. saccus. See Sack a bag.] The pillage or plunder, as of a town or city; the storm and plunder of a town; devastation; ravage.

The town was stormed, and delivered up to sack, -- by which phrase is to be understood the perpetration of all those outrages which the ruthless code of war allowed, in that age, on the persons and property of the defenseless inhabitants, without regard to sex or age. --Prescott.

Sack

Sack\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sacked; p. pr. & vb. n. Sacking.] [See Sack pillage.] To plunder or pillage, as a town or city; to devastate; to ravage.

The Romans lay under the apprehensions of seeing their city sacked by a barbarous enemy. --Addison.

Language Translation for : sack

Spanish: saco,

German: der Sack,

Japanese: 大袋

More Translations »

sack (n.1)

"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, 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 (n.2)

"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 (n.3)

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

sack (v.1)

"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 "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).

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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