Definition of SACK

sack

Plural: sacks

Noun

  • a bag made of paper or plastic for holding customer's purchases
  • an enclosed space
  • the quantity contained in a sack
  • any of various light dry strong white wine from Spain and Canary Islands (including sherry)
  • a woman's full loose hiplength jacket
  • a hanging bed of canvas or rope netting (usually suspended between two trees); swings easily
  • a loose-fitting dress hanging straight from the shoulders without a waist
  • the plundering of a place by an army or mob; usually involves destruction and slaughter
    • "the sack of Rome"
  • the termination of someone's employment (leaving them free to depart)
  • 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.
  • 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 plunder and pillaging of a captured town or city.
  • Loot or booty obtained by pillage.
  • A successful tackle of the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage.
  • One of the square bases anchored at first base, second base, or third base.
  • Dismissal from employment, or discharge from a position.
  • Bed.
  • 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.
  • A sack coat; a kind of coat worn by men, and extending from top to bottom without a cross seam.
  • The scrotum.
  • Any disposable bag.
  • A variety of light-colored dry wine from Spain or the Canary Islands; also, any strong white wine from southern Europe; sherry.
  • Dated form of sac (“pouch in a plant or animal”).
  • Alternative spelling of sac (“sacrifice”).

Verb

Verb Forms: sacked, sacking, sacks

  • To put into a large bag; to dismiss from a job.
  • plunder (a town) after capture
    • "the barbarians sacked Rome"
  • terminate the employment of; discharge from an office or position
  • make as a net profit
  • put in a sack
    • "The grocer sacked the onions"
  • To put in a sack or sacks.
  • To bear or carry in a sack upon the back or the shoulders.
  • To plunder or pillage, especially after capture; to obtain spoils of war from.
  • To tackle the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage, especially before he is able to throw a pass.
  • To discharge from a job or position; to fire.
  • To give up on, to abandon, delay, to not think about someone or something.
  • Alternative spelling of sac (“sacrifice”).

Examples

  • get the sack
  • give (someone) the sack
  • He got passed the ball, but it hit him in the sack.
  • He got the sack for being late all the time.
  • He had to sack his initial plan when a better, higher-scoring word became apparent.
  • He twisted his ankle sliding into the sack at second.
  • He was sacked last September.
  • Help me sack the groceries.
  • hit the sack
  • in the sack
  • Sack him, let's run.
  • Sack the homework.
  • The barbarians sacked Rome in 410 CE.
  • The boss is gonna give her the sack today.
  • the sack of Rome

Origin / 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, 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.

Synonyms

can, carrier bag, chemise, clear, discharge, dismiss, dismissal, dismission, displace, fire, firing, force out, give notice, give the axe, give the sack, hammock, liberation, net, paper bag, plunder, pocket, poke, pouch, release, sac, sack up, sackful, sacking, sacque, send away, shift, terminate, axe, bag, booty, decruit, dehire, discard, downsize, forget, fuck, give someone the boot, give someone the heave-ho, give someone the old heave-ho, give someone their cards, give the chop, give the elbow, hay, lay off, let go, let someone go, loot, make redundant, one's cards, pink slip, promote to customer, rack, ransack, retrench, sack, screw, scrotum, serve notice, shit-can, term, the axe, the boot, the chop, the elbow, the old heave-ho, throw out, tote, unhire

Antonyms

hire

Scrabble Score: 10

sack: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
sack: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
sack: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 11

sack: valid Words With Friends Word