sack

Meaning

Noun

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).
3. The plunder and pillaging of a captured town or city.
4. Loot or booty obtained by pillage.
5. A successful tackle of the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage.
6. One of the square bases anchored at first base, second base, or third base.
7. (informal) Dismissal from employment, or discharge from a position.
8. (colloquial) Bed.
9. 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. A sack coat; a kind of coat worn by men, and extending from top to bottom without a cross seam.
11. (slang) The scrotum.
12. Any disposable bag.

Verb

1. To put in a sack or sacks.
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.
4. To tackle the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage, especially before he is able to throw a pass.
5. (informal) To discharge from a job or position; to fire.
6. (slang) To give up on, to abandon, delay, to not think about someone or something.

Verb

Alternative spelling of sac (“sacrifice”)

Concepts

sack

bag

dismiss

fire

discharge

plunder

pillage

pouch

pocket

purse

despoil

ransack

rob

can

lay off

expel

loot

ravage

gunny bag

poke

sac

dismissal

carrier bag

case

container

remove

devastate

spoil

terminate

send away

sackful

pack

handbag

bottle

box

bucket

chest

jar

jug

pail

pot

tin

urn

oust

axe

kick out

paper bag

mat-bag

firing

release

sacking

net

give the axe

give the sack

hammock

push

crate

vessel

retrench

raid

strip

destroy

large bag

kitbag

satchel

dismission

liberation

clear

sack up

displace

force out

give notice

chemise

shift

sacque

discard

eliminate

throw out

sackcloth

wallet

kill

make redundant

turn away

ferry

tub

vat

holiday

leave

leisure

paying off

spare time

time off

vacation

adjourn

chase away

cite

defer

delay

drive away

postpone

procrastinate

put off

reflect

relay

repel

resend

send back

send on

shelve

depredate

ruin

bale

straw bag

carry-all bag

rucksack

drive out

abandon

clear away

throw away

notice

bag for grain

bunk

bed

paper

to be asleep

boot

kick

sack-load

gunnybag

abuse

ill-use

lay waste

make in confusion

maltreat

mess about with

over-run

scatter about

trample down

tread down

turn upside down

discharge to dismiss

cast out

evacuate

throw

vacate

blouse

jacket

shirt

bundle

shoulder bag

disband

unbind

uncage

unhand

unleash

unloose

depredation

rapine

foray

maraud

overrun

rummage

bursa

capsule

cyst

hydatid

gunnysack

hemp bag

hessian bag

jute bag

burlap

receptacle

knapsack

break

black out

destruct

eradicate

erase

extinguish

fritter

knock out

obliterate

rase

waste

wipe out

zap

desolation

destruction

obliteration

rape

ravaging

marching orders

marsupium

saccule

sacculus

bagful

beat

beat out

best

carry

conquer

have the best

letter

lick

outdo

outgo

outmatch

outplay

overcome

pip

prevail

quell

scoop

shell

take

transcend

triumph

trounce

vanquish

win

can suspend

axing

gunny sack

pad

endorse

send out

swerve

transfer

turn

veer

looting

robbery

rasnsacking

disemploy

let go

terminate agreement

be given the boot

be given one's cards

be given the elbow

denunciation

repudiation

mat bag

sleeping bag

hand-bag

ammunition

shovel

valise

hag

briefcase

Pronounced as (IPA)

/sæk/

Etymology

From Middle English sak (“bag, sackcloth”), from Old English sacc (“sack, bag”) and sæcc (“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.