sack1
/sak
/noun
1A large bag made of a strong material such as hessian, thick paper, or plastic, used for storing and carrying goods.Each one, after scrutiny, found something of value to add to his sack: paper, plastic bags, bits of cardboard....
- We had our bikes, our waterproofs and our special thick plastic newspaper sacks to keep the newsprint nice and dry.
- The changes will mean residents placing their rubbish in a suitable container or into strong plastic sacks.
Synonyms
bag, pack, pouch, pocket;
North American & Indian gunny;
Scottish poke
1.1The contents of a sack or the amount it can contain: a sack of flour...
- Unable to control his bike, he landed on the tarmac like a sack of spuds.
- I feel like a sack of cement, and somehow I have to write a column.
- The bones inside their legs felt like a sack of broken glass.
2 (also sack dress) A woman’s short loose unwaisted dress, typically narrowing at the hem, popular especially in the 1950s.Next seasons's big thing, the sack dress, was also seen in the show....
- Bodies were being reconfigured dramatically, particularly female ones - the corset and chignon were abandoned for the unconstructed sack dress and bobbed hair of the femme nouvelle.
- The collection ended on a high note with a sequence of little black sack dresses with gilded metallic trim.
2.1 historical A woman’s long loose dress or gown.
2.2A piece of dress material fastened to the shoulders of a woman’s gown in loose pleats and forming a long train, fashionable in the 18th century.
3 (the sack) informal Dismissal from employment: he got the sack for swearing they were given the sack...
- Rowena Henson was soon given the sack over another matter.
- The majority of workers have now received the early retirement package and wage arrears with the exception of eight who were, instead, given the sack.
- I got the sack from Woolworth's for fighting with the under-manager in the stock room, and then went back to the youth employment officer.
Synonyms
dismissal, discharge, redundancy, termination of employment, one's marching orders
informal the boot, the bullet, the axe, the (old) heave-ho, the elbow, the push, the bounce
British informal one's cards, the chop
4 (the sack) informal, chiefly North American Bed, especially as regarded as a place for sex: most of them weren’t up to what she expected in the sack...
- Oh, and I bet you I am SO much better in the sack than her.
- It wasn't like she was trying to get us all in the sack.
- I was doing him a favor, really, if you think about it - him and any girl unfortunate enough to end up in the sack with him in the future.
Synonyms
bed;
Scottish kip
British informal pit
5 Baseball, informal A base.If they finish the year first in pilfered sacks, it would be the first time since 1938 that the Bronx Bombers led in this category....
- He started out as a pitcher as many ballplayers do but quickly was moved over to the first sack.
- Say, for instance, the underhand toss the hurler sent toward the behind (aka catcher) went to the spot you'd indicated and you walloped a shot to the second sack man.
6 American Football A tackle of a quarterback behind the line of scrimmage.Last year, Babin recorded 15 sacks and 33 tackles behind the line of scrimmage....
- Joseph has racked up 16 sacks and 34 quarterback hurries since moving to tackle.
- In 1982, the NFL finally cried uncle and recognized the quarterback sack as an individual statistic.
verb [with object]
1 informal Dismiss from employment: any official found to be involved would be sacked on the spot...
- To deny a person employment or to sack them on such grounds is an abuse of natural justice and due process because they have already received the legally appropriate penalty.
- The Prime Minister has come out in support of Dr Hollingworth's decision not to sack someone from their employment despite enormous impropriety.
- Geetha, another sacked female employee, also attempted suicide after she was dismissed.
Synonyms
dismiss, give someone their notice, throw out, get rid of, lay off, make redundant, let go, discharge, cashier
informal fire, kick out, boot out, give someone the sack, give someone the boot, give someone the bullet, give someone the (old) heave-ho, give someone the elbow, give someone the push, give someone their marching orders, show someone the door, send packing
British informal give someone their cards, turf out
dated out
2 (sack out) North American informal Go to bed, or go to sleep.The only time he seems to fully inhabit the role is when he is sacked out on the couch: THAT he does with conviction....
- We'd get the late morning and early afternoon off - time I spent sacked out on the living room sofa at the house - only to be back for an hour or so of in-class time before hitting the countryside again to see the birds go to bed.
- Took a brief nap today while Gnat was sacked out.
3 American Football Tackle (a quarterback) behind the line of scrimmage: Oregon intercepted five of his passes and sacked him five times...
- Next down, he charged around the left tackle and sacked the quarterback for a safety.
- For the last two seasons, the Texans have been one of the worst defenses in the league at sacking the quarterback.
- During that season, San Francisco sacked enemy quarterbacks 61 times.
4 rare Put into a sack or sacks: a small part of his wheat had been sacked...
- Packing sheds were constructed for growers to sort and sack the potatoes for shipment.
- Mr. Cahm Gastineau, an old time thresherman, and my friend for 60 years, took care of sacking the grain.
- Well, prior to going out to collect the buggies, I was inside sacking groceries at the express counter.
Phrases
hit the sack
a sack of potatoes
Derivatives
sackable
/ adjective ...- Mr Close says he had not had any opportunity to discuss his responses to any of the allegations against him (none of which were sackable offences) with anyone in the department.
- A detective who accessed the police database to try and find out the home address of a corruption investigator was let off with just a fine, even though it is now a sackable offence.
- ‘I would regard it as a sackable matter if the manager of a club I was in charge of made defeatist comments,’ said Crampsey.
sack-like
- Hayley is wearing some sort of grey sack-like top and jeans.
- Suddenly, I felt the sensation of something warm, damp and sack-like being stuffed into my mouth and nose!
- A plain string was tied at her waist, giving the sack-like clothing a shape.
Origin
Old English sacc, from Latin saccus 'sack, sackcloth', from Greek sakkos, of Semitic origin. Sense 1 of the verb dates from the mid 19th century.
When it refers to a bag, sack is related to Dutch zak and German Sack, and goes back to Semitic, the family of languages that includes Hebrew and Arabic. The word passed through Greek and Latin into the language of the Continental Anglo-Saxons, who brought it with them to England, leaving us with the interesting question of what words were being used for an object that these cultures must have had before the borrowing, and why they felt the need to borrow it. Latin saccus is the source of the biological sac (mid 18th century) and, via French, of sachet (mid 19th century) and satchel (Old English) both ‘a little sack’. The sack meaning ‘to plunder or pillage a town or city’ came in the mid 16th century from French, where the phrase was mettre à sac, ‘to put to the sack’. This may have originally referred to filling a sack with plunder, so the two words would ultimately be the same.
People in employment have been given the sack since the early 19th century, probably echoing a French phrase. In ancient Rome the sack was much more serious than losing a job—it was being sewn into a sack and drowned as a punishment for killing a parent or other near relative. Sacks were made of a coarse rough fabric woven from flax and hemp, called sackcloth. The Gospel of St Matthew describes the wearing of sackcloth and the sprinkling of ashes on your head as signs of repentance and mourning, and people experiencing these emotions can still be in sackcloth and ashes.
Rhymes
sack2
/sak/verb [with object]
(Chiefly in historical contexts) plunder and destroy (a captured town or building): the fort was rebuilt in AD 158 and was sacked again in AD 197...
- Then, an army of warriors and men dressed in black cowls came from the direction of Plunder castle and sacked the town.
- Devastating or plundering land without sacking a city was a regular tactic at the time and one that, as long as people had a secure place of retreat, was not particularly fearsome.
- Commanding 36 ships and 2000 fellow buccaneers, Morgan sacked the town and left his men to the burning and looting.
Synonyms
ravage, lay waste, devastate, ransack, strip, fleece, plunder, pillage, loot, rob, raid
literary despoil
archaic spoil, reave
rare depredate, spoliate, forage
noun
The pillaging of a town or city: the sack of Rome...
- The statue must have been damaged during the sack of the city by the Franks in 355 AD.
- The armor is engraved with scenes of Roman days to come: Romulus and Remus, the founding of the republic, the sack of the city by Gauls.
- Strabo does not, however, explicitly refer to the sack of the city of Old Pleuron.
Synonyms
laying waste, ransacking, plunder, plundering, sacking, looting, ravaging, pillage, pillaging, devastation, depredation, stripping, robbery, robbing, raiding
literary despoiling, rape, rapine, ravin
rare spoliation
Origin
Mid 16th century: from French sac, in the phrase mettre à sac 'put to sack', on the model of Italian fare il sacco, mettere a sacco, which perhaps originally referred to filling a sack with plunder.
sack3
/sak/noun [mass noun] historical
A dry white wine formerly imported into Britain from Spain and the Canaries.In the Middle Ages many Alsace wines were fortified or spiced in order to compete with the fuller bodied Mediterranean wines such as sack and malmsey....
- In the 17th century, sack (like sweet sherry), claret, or orange juice were used in eating possets.
- Yet after wine and mead and sack, man must have a massive snack.
Origin
Early 16th century: from the phrase wyne seck, from French vin sec 'dry wine'.