Contextualizebeta

sack

noun
/sæk/UK

Etymology

From Middle English sak, sek, sach, zech (“bag, sackcloth”), from Old English sacc (“sack, bag”) and sæċċ (“sackcloth, sacking”); both from Proto-West Germanic *sakku, 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 or Hebrew. Cognate with Dutch zak, German Sack, Swedish säck, Danish sæk, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk sekk, Faroese and Icelandic sekkur, Hebrew שַׂק (śaq, “sack, sackcloth”), Aramaic סַקָּא, Classical Syriac ܣܩܐ, Ge'ez ሠቅ (śäḳ), Akkadian 𒆭𒊓 (saqqu), Egyptian sꜣgꜣ. Doublet of sac, saccus, saco, and sakkos. 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. * Slang meaning "scrotum" is an ellipsis of ballsack.

  1. derived from sacco
  2. derived from sac
  3. derived from σάκκος — “bag of coarse cloth”
  4. derived from saccus — “large bag”
  5. inherited from *sakkuz✻ — “sack”
  6. inherited from *sakku✻
  7. inherited from sacc — “sack, bag”
  8. inherited from sak

Definitions

  1. A bag

    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

    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. — .
    • 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.
    • 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. The plunder and pillaging of a captured town or city.

    • the sack of Rome
  4. ›+ 18 more definitions

    1. Loot or booty obtained by pillage.

    2. A successful tackle of the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage.

    3. One of the square bases anchored at first base, second base, or third base.

      • He twisted his ankle sliding into the sack at second.

    4. Dismissal from employment, or discharge from a position.

      • give (someone) the sack
      • get the sack
      • The boss is gonna give her the sack today.

    5. Bed.

      • hit the sack
      • in the sack

    6. A kind of loose-fitting gown or dress with sleeves which hangs from the shoulders, such…

      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.

      • Molly, therefore, having dressed herself out in this sack, with a new laced cap, and some other ornaments which Tom had given her, repairs to church with her fan in her hand the very next Sunday.
      • Her Dress, too, was of the same cast, a thin muslin short sacque and Coat lined throughout with Pink, – a modesty bit – and something of a very short cloak half concealed about half of her old wrinkled Neck […].
      • This lady's interesting figure, on her wedding-day, was attired in a sacque and petticoat of the most expensive brocaded white silk, resembling net-work, enriched with small flowers […].

    7. A sack coat

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

    8. The scrotum.

      • He got passed the ball, but it hit him in the sack.

    9. Any disposable bag.

    10. To put in a sack or sacks.

      • Help me sack the groceries.
      • The gold was sacked in moose-hide bags, fifty pounds to the bag, and piled like so much firewood outside the spruce-bough lodge.
      • A girl porter sacking some of the many thousands of used railway tickets which are turned over by the London Passenger Transport Board to assist the waste paper salvage campaign

    11. To bear or carry in a sack upon the back or the shoulders.

    12. To plunder or pillage, especially after capture

      To plunder or pillage, especially after capture; to obtain spoils of war from.

      • The barbarians sacked Rome in 410 CE.
      • Thoſe thouſand horſe shall ſweat with martiall ſpoyle Of conquered kingdomes, and of Cities ſackt, […]
      • It [a lyre] was part of the spoils which he had taken when he sacked the city of Eetion […]

    13. To tackle the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage, especially before he is able to…

      To tackle the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage, especially before he is able to throw a pass.

      • 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.

    14. To discharge from a job or position

      To discharge from a job or position; to fire.

      • He was sacked last September.
      • […] Boris Berezovsky on Friday dismissed President Boris Yeltsin's move to sack him from his post as executive secretary of the Commonwealth of Independent States, […]
      • Waste my time working for cowards and creeps / Oh I wish that they'd sack me and leave me to sleep

    15. To give up on, to abandon, delay, to not think about someone or something.

      • Sack the homework.
      • Sack him, let's run.

    16. A variety of light-colored dry wine from Spain or the Canary Islands

      A variety of light-colored dry wine from Spain or the Canary Islands; also, any strong white wine from southern Europe; sherry.

      • Wilt pleaſe your Lord drink a cup of ſacke? […] I am Christophero Sly, call not mee Honour nor Lordship: I ne're drank ſacke in my life: […]
      • Giue me a Cup of Sacke, Rogue. Is there no Vertue extant?

    17. Dated form of sac (“pouch in a plant or animal”).

      • Sometimes fishes are born that have rudimentary yolk sacks. Such young are born prematurely.

    18. Alternative spelling of sac (“sacrifice”).

The neighborhood

Derived

back, crack and sack, backsack, ballsack, ball sack, ballsac, barley sack, bivouac sack, bollock sack, booksack, carisack, cat in the sack, coalsack, cock sack, cocksack, cornsack, crapsack, crocker sack, daysack, dicksack, dressing sack, dub sack, dumb as a sack of bricks, dumb as a sack of hammers, dumber than a sack of bricks, fart sack, feedsack, floursack, get the sack, give the sack, go down like a sack of potatoes, gripsack, gunny sack, gunnysack, hacky sack, hackysack, Hacky-Sack, hackeysack, halter-sack, happy sack, hit the sack · +58 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at sack. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01sack02items03item04distinct05distinctive06typical07overall08pockets09pocket

A definitional loop anchored at sack. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at sack

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA