sack

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Giving the sack is a felicity granted only to a few people.

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Definitions (58)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (17)

  1. noun A large bag of strong coarse material for holding objects in bulk.
  2. noun A similar container of paper or plastic.
  3. noun The amount that such a container can hold.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (23)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (5)

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Examples (50)

  • Inside the black-leather sack were a number of padded compartments, and some held bottles—the label read Vat 69 , though it was actually an ordinary brand of Corvallan rotgut made from potatoes. —  Map.html
  • The next thing to emerge from the sack was a black lace bra. —  tripso.com
  • But the sacked chief executive on his part argued that his sack was the result of his principled opposition to the minister's attempt to direct the affairs of the PHCN and undermine existing regulations and procedures. —  AllAfrica News: Latest
  • The moonlight, the ghostly pines, the cold crisp air, the gleaming snow everywhere, the delightful motion, all added to the delight of it; the horrible noise made by our little friend in the sack was the only thing that broke the peace I dozed at intervals, and perhaps Gavril dozed also. —  Chatterbox, 1906
  • A Corsican version is in Ortoli, p. 155. The episode of the Devil beaten in the sack is also found in Comparetti, No. —  Italian Popular Tales
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

bag ·  basket ·  bundle ·  pile ·  blanket ·  bucket ·  jar ·  pack ·  barrel ·  bowl ·  handful ·  pouch

Used in the same contextWord Family

sack:   sacks ·  sacked ·  sacking
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (8)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. Middle English, from Old English sacc, from Latin saccus, from Greek sakkos, of Semitic origin; see śqq in Semitic roots.
  2. Probably from French (mettre à) sac, (to put in) a sack, from Old French sac, sack, from Latin saccus, sack, bag; see sack1.
  3. From French (vin) sec, dry (wine), from Old French, from Latin siccus, dry.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (5)

  1. from Middle English sak, sac, sek, seck, sech, sack, from Anglo-Saxon sæc, sæcc, sacc = Dutch zak = Middle Low German sak, Low German sak, sack = Old High German Middle High German sac, German sack = Icelandic sekkr = Swedish säkk = Danish sæk = French sac (later English sac) = Provencal sac = Spanish Portuguese saco = Italian sacco = Old Irish Gaelic sac = Welsh sach, sack, = Bulgarian Servian Bohemian Polish sak = Russian sakŭ, a bag-net, = Hungarian szák = Albanian sak (Old Bulgarian diminutive sakulŭ = Lithuanian sakvele = New Greek σακκούλι), from Latin saccus = Gothic (Moesogothic) sakkus, from Greek σάκκος, a bag, sack, also sackcloth, a garment of sackcloth; from Hebrew saq, Chald. sak, a sack for corn, stuff made of haircloth, sackcloth; prob. of Egyptian origin; cf. Coptic sok = Ethiopian sak, sackcloth. The wide diffusion of the word is prob. due to the incident in the story of Joseph in which the cup was hidden in the sack of corn (see Gen. xliv.).
  2. from Middle English sacken (= Middle Dutch sacken, Dutch zakken = German sacken = Icelandic sekka); from sack, n.
  3. from French sac = Spanish saco = Portuguese saco, sacco, saque = Italian sacco, sack, plunder, pillage; ult. from Latin saccus, a bag, sack (see sack), but the precise connection is uncertain. In one view, it is through a particular use of the verb represented by English sack, ‘put into a bag,’ and hence, it may be supposed, ‘conceal and take away’ (cf. bag, and pocket, in similar uses); but no such use of the Old French and Middle Latin verb appears, the Roman verbs meaning ‘sack’ being secondary forms, depending on the noun (see sack, v., saccage, v.); besides, the town or people ‘sacked’ is not ‘put into a bag.’ The origin is partly in the Old French “a sac, a sac, the word whereby a commander authorizeth his souldiers to sack a place or people” (Cotgrave), = Italian a sacco, “asacco, asaccomano, to the spoile, to the sacke, ransakt” (Florio)—the exhortation a sac, Italian a sacco, ‘to plunder,’ prob. meaning orig. ‘to bag!’ i. e. fill your pouches (Old French sac = Italian sacco, a bag, pouch, wallet, sack: see sack, n.); and partly in the Spanish sacomano, a plunderer, also sack, plunder, pillage, = Italian saccomano, a plunderer, freebooter, scout, soldier's servant, also plunder; from Middle Latin saccomannus, a plunderer, saccomannum, plunder, from Middle High German sackman, a soldier's servant, camp-servant (sackman machen, plunder), literally ‘sack-man,’ one who carries a sack, from sack, = English sack, + man = English man.
  4. = Middle Dutch sacken = Spanish Portuguese saquear, sack; from the noun: see sack, n. Cf. sackage, n.
  5. Also rarely seck (cf. Middle Dutch sackwijn); from French sec, dry (vin sec, dry wine), = Spanish seco = Portuguese secco = Italian secco (vino secco, dry wine), from Latin siccus, dry; root uncertain.
 

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/sæk/
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