sack

See also: Sack and säck

English
WOTD – 20 September 2008

Pronunciation
  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /sæk/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (AU)(file)
  • Rhymes: -æk
  • Homophones: sac, SAC

Etymology 1

From Middle English sak (“bag, sackcloth”), from Old English sacc (“sack, bag”) and sæcc (“sackcloth, sacking”); both 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. Cognate with Dutch zak, German Sack, Swedish säck, Hebrew שַׂק‎ (śaq, “sack, sackcloth”), Aramaic סַקָּא‎, Classical Syriac ܣܩܐ‎, Ge'ez ሠቅ (śäḳ), Akkadian 𒆭𒊓 (saqqu), Egyptian sꜣgꜣ. Doublet of sac.

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.

Noun

sack (plural sacks)

  1. 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.
  2. 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).
    • The American sack of salt is 215 pounds; the sack of wheat, two bushels. — McElrath.
    • 1843, The Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, Vol. 27, page 202
      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.
    • 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England‎, volume 4, page 209:
      Generally, however, the stone or petra, almost always of 14 lbs., is used, the tod of 28 lbs., and the sack of thirteen stone.
  3. (uncountable) The plunder and pillaging of a captured town or city.
    The sack of Rome.
  4. (uncountable) Loot or booty obtained by pillage.
  5. (American football) A successful tackle of the quarterback. See verb sense4 below.
  6. (baseball) One of the square bases anchored at first base, second base, or third base.
    He twisted his ankle sliding into the sack at second.
  7. (informal) Dismissal from employment, or discharge from a position, usually as give (someone) the sack or get the sack. See verb sense4 below.
    The boss is gonna give her the sack today.
    He got the sack for being late all the time.
  8. (colloquial, US) Bed; usually as hit the sack or in the sack. See also sack out.
  9. (dated) (also sacque) 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.
  10. (dated) A sack coat; a kind of coat worn by men, and extending from top to bottom without a cross seam.
  11. (vulgar, slang) The scrotum.
    He got passed the ball, but it hit him in the sack.
Synonyms
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Terms derived from sack (noun)
Translations

Verb

sack (third-person singular simple present sacks, present participle sacking, simple past and past participle sacked)

  1. To put in a sack or sacks.
    Help me sack the groceries.
  2. To bear or carry in a sack upon the back or the shoulders.
  3. To plunder or pillage, especially after capture; to obtain spoils of war from.
    The barbarians sacked Rome.
  4. (American football) To tackle, usually to tackle the offensive quarterback behind the line of scrimmage before he is able to throw a pass.
    • 1995, John Crumpacker and Gwen Knapp, "Sack-happy defensive line stuns Dolphins", SFGate.com, November 21,
      On third down, the rejuvenated Rickey Jackson stormed in over All-Pro left tackle Richmond Webb to sack Marino yet again for a 2-yard loss.
  5. (informal) To discharge from a job or position; to fire.
    He was sacked last September.
  6. (colloquial) In the phrase sack out, to fall asleep. See also hit the sack.
    The kids all sacked out before 9:00 on New Year’s Eve.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2

From earlier (wyne) seck, from Middle French (vin) sec (“dry (wine)”), from Latin siccus (“dry”)

Noun

sack (countable and uncountable, plural sacks)

  1. (dated) A variety of light-colored dry wine from Spain or the Canary Islands; also, any strong white wine from southern Europe; sherry.
Derived terms
See also

Noun

sack (plural sacks)

  1. Dated form of sac (“pouch in a plant or animal”).
    • 1938, The Microscope (volumes 1-2, page 56)
      Sometimes fishes are born that have rudimentary yolk sacks. Such young are born prematurely.

Verb

sack (third-person singular simple present sacks, present participle sacking, simple past and past participle sacked)

  1. Alternative spelling of sac (“sacrifice”)

Noun

sack (plural sacks)

  1. Alternative spelling of sac (“sacrifice”)

See also

References
  • Forbes, Robert Jacobus (1955) Studies in Ancient Technology, vol. IV, p. 66
  • Černý, Jaroslav (1976) Coptic Etymological Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 149
  • Vycichl, Werner (1983) Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Copte, Leuven: Peeters, →ISBN, page 186
  • Hoch, James E. (1994) Semitic Words in Egyptian Texts of the New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period, Princeton: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 269

Anagrams
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