rucksack
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of rucksack
1890–95; < German: literally, back sack
Explanation
A rucksack is another name for a backpack or knapsack. On the first day of school, you might load up your rucksack with new notebooks and sharp pencils. Depending on where you live (and possibly, how old you are), you might call a rucksack a bookbag, a sackpack, or a kitpack. However you say it, it's a bag with shoulder straps that's designed to be carried on your back. Rucksack is originally a German word, from the Alpine-German dialect word Rück, "the back," and Sack, "large bag."
Vocabulary lists containing rucksack
A Monster Calls
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
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Between Shades of Gray
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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.
Never Leave the House Without a 100kg Bergen Rucksack Thousands of people get lost in forests each year on what they thought was a simple walk from their house to buy a carton of milk.
From The Guardian • Nov. 12, 2017
Utilitarians, who believe that we should act so as to maximise happiness, or well-being, think our intuitions are wrong about Rucksack Man.
From BBC • Oct. 14, 2017
Once again it's a choice between one life and five, but most people believe that Rucksack Man should not be killed.
From BBC • Oct. 14, 2017
Nothing is more uncomfortable than a small full Rucksack, perching like a football on one's back.
From Ski-running by Furse, Katharine Symonds
I once hunted a great many London shops in vain for a Rucksack with leather shoulder straps.
From Ski-running by Furse, Katharine Symonds
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.
