haversack
Americannoun
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a single-strapped bag worn over one shoulder and used for carrying supplies.
-
a soldier's bag for rations, extra clothing, etc.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of haversack
1740–50; earlier havresack < French havresac < German Habersack, equivalent to Haber oats (compare dialectal English haver < Old Norse hafrar oats) + Sack sack 1
Vocabulary lists containing haversack
The American Civil War
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Novel Study: Harriet Tubman, Chapters 11–22
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He has one green parakeet feather in his haversack.
From New York Times ● Apr. 1, 2012
And now it has its metaphorical haversack over its brave, small metaphorical shoulders and is trotting off to do some Youth Hostelling in Indonesia without me.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 18, 2011
He'd arrive on his bike, his haversack full of groceries, and he'd spend the afternoon with us.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 26, 2010
Expert No. 2, Philosopher Cyril Edwin Mitchinson Joad, clumped in on loud-nailed boots, carrying a vast haversack.
From Time Magazine Archive
Matthias stood firm as the haversack was pulled from his back.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
On the end page of W T Palmer's 1939 book, there's an illustration of two exhausted but very contented little penguins, reposing on their haversacks.
From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2018
A handful of spectators watched the Dyaks unload their sleeping mats and haversacks from the trucks.
From Time Magazine Archive
Said dramatic Mr. Hore-Belisha: "It is a time when the nation must sleep on its haversacks."
From Time Magazine Archive
From a flimsy little hat-rack hung his two haversacks.
From The Tower of Oblivion by Onions, Oliver [pseud.]
That objection was soon removed, by supplying me with a substantial breakfast from their haversacks.
From Nurse and Spy in the Union Army The Adventures and Experiences of a Woman in Hospitals, Camps, and Battle-Fields by Edmonds, S. Emma E.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
