sack

pronunciation

How to pronounce sack in British English: UK [sæk] word uk audio image

How to pronounce sack in American English: US [sæk] word us audio image

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); swing 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 termination of someone's employment (leaving them free to depart)
Verb:

plunder (a town) after capture
terminate the employment of
make as a net profit
put in a sack

Word Origin

sack: sack: English has three separate words sack, one of them now a historical relic and the other two ultimately related. Sack ‘large bag’ [OE] was borrowed from Latin saccus (source also of English sac, sachet, and satchel). This in turn came from Greek sákkos ‘rough cloth used for packing’, which was of Semitic origin (Hebrew has saq meaning both ‘sack’ and ‘sackcloth’).The colloquial sense ‘dismissal from work’ (as in get the sack) arose in the early 19th century, perhaps from the notion of a dismissed worker going away with his tools or clothing in his bag. Sack ‘plunder’ [16] came via French sac from sacco ‘bag’, the Italian descendant of Latin saccus. This was used in expressions like mettere a sacco, literally ‘put in a bag’, which denoted figuratively ‘plunder, pillage’ (no doubt inspired by the notion of ‘putting one’s loot in a bag’). Sack ‘sherry-like wine’ [16] (Sir John Falstaff’s favourite tipple) was an alteration of seck.This was short for wine sec, a partial translation of French vin sec ‘dry wine’ (French sec came from Latin siccus ‘dry’, source of English desiccate [16]).=> sac, sachet, satchel; desiccate, sec

sack (n.1): "large bag," Old English sacc (West Saxon), sec (Mercian), sæc (Old Kentish) "large cloth bag," also "sackcloth," from Proto-Germanic *sakkiz (cognates: Middle Dutch sak, Old High German sac, Old Norse sekkr, but Gothic sakkus probably is directly from Greek), an early borrowing from Latin saccus (also source of Old French sac, Spanish saco, Italian sacco), from Greek sakkos, from Semitic (compare Hebrew saq "sack"). The wide spread of the word is probably due to the Biblical story of Joseph, in which a sack of corn figures (Gen. xliv). Baseball slang sense of "a base" is attested from 1913. Slang meaning "bunk, bed" is from 1825, originally nautical. The verb meaning "go to bed" is recorded from 1946. Sack race attested from 1805.

sack (n.2): "a dismissal from work," 1825, from sack (n.1), perhaps from the notion of the worker going off with his tools in a bag; the original formula was to give (someone) the sack. It is attested earlier in French (on luy a donné son sac, 17c.) and Dutch (iemand de zak geven).

sack (n.4): "sherry," 1530s, alteration of French vin sec "dry wine," from Latin siccus "dry" (see siccative).

sack (v.1): "to plunder," 1540s, from Middle French sac, in the phrase mettre à sac "put it in a bag," a military leader's command to his troops to plunder a city (parallel to Italian sacco, with the same range of meaning), from Vulgar Latin *saccare "to plunder," originally "to put plundered things into a sack," from Latin saccus "bag" (see sack (n.1)). The notion is probably of putting booty in a bag.

sack (n.3): "plunder; act of plundering, the plundering of a city or town after storming and capture," 1540s, from French sac "pillage, plunder," from Italian sacco (see sack (v.1)).

sack (v.2): "put in a bag," late 14c., from sack (n.1). Related: Sacked; sacking.

sack (v.4): type of U.S. football play, 1969, from sack (v.1) in the sense of "to plunder" or sack (v.2) on the notion of "put in a bag." As a noun from 1972.

sack (v.3): "dismiss from work," 1841, from sack (n.2). Related: Sacked; sacking.