Sackcloth is rough woven material that is used to make sacks.
He kept the club wrapped in sackcloth.
2. uncountable noun
If you talk about sackcloth or sackcloth and ashes you are referring to an exaggerated attempt by someone to show that they are sorry for doing something wrong.
He went on about his irresponsible behaviour, the dreadful effect it would have onhis children and so on. It was all sackcloth and ashes.
sackcloth in British English
(ˈsækˌklɒθ)
noun
1.
coarse cloth such as sacking
2.
garments made of such cloth, worn formerly to indicate mourning or penitence
3. sackcloth and ashes
sackcloth in American English
(ˈsækˌklɔθ; ˈsækˌklɑθ)
noun
1.
sacking
2.
coarse, rough cloth, orig. made of goats' hair, worn as a symbol of mourning or penitence, often with ashes sprinkled on the head
Idioms:
in sackcloth and ashes
Word origin
see sack1
Examples of 'sackcloth' in a sentence
sackcloth
He opened the sackcloth which held four bronze bell heads; two were identical figures cast sharp with all their edges and clappers intact.
Robert Wilson INSTRUMENTS OF DARKNESS (2002)
I opened the glove to take out the sackcloth which wrapped the bell heads and noticed that the photographs in there had gone.