sack

[sak]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sack ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a large bag of strong, coarsely woven material, as for grain, potatoes, or coal.

the amount a sack holds.

a bag: a sack of candy.

Slang. dismissal or discharge, as from a job: to get the sack.

Slang. bed: I bet he's still in the sack.

Also sacque.

a loose-fitting dress, as a gown with a Watteau back, especially one fashionable in the late 17th century and much of the 18th century.
a loose-fitting coat, jacket, or cape.

Baseball. a base.

South Midland U.S. the udder of a cow.

verb (used with object)

to put into a sack or sacks.

Football. to tackle (the quarterback) behind the line of scrimmage before the quarterback is able to throw a pass.

Slang. to dismiss or discharge, as from a job.

Verb Phrases

sack out, Slang. to go to bed; fall asleep.

Idioms

hit the sack, Slang. to go to bed; go to sleep: He never hits the sack before midnight.

leave holding the sack. bag(def 28).

Origin of sack

before 1000; 1940–45 for def 5; Middle English sak (noun), sakken (v.), Old English sacc (noun) < Latin saccus bag, sackcloth < Greek sákkos < Semitic; compare Hebrew śaq

Related formssack·like, adjective

Can be confusedbag sac sack sacque

Regional variation note

See bag.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for sack out

relax, snooze, doze, languish, hibernate, crash, oversleep, nod, slumber, bunk, catnap, repose, flop, retire, yawn, nap, rest, snore, dream, drowse

British Dictionary definitions for sack out

sack

noun

a large bag made of coarse cloth, thick paper, etc, used as a container

Also called: sackful the amount contained in a sack, sometimes used as a unit of measurement

a woman's loose tube-shaped dress
Also called: sacquea woman's full loose hip-length jacket, worn in the 18th and mid-20th centuries

short for rucksack

cricket, Australian a run scored off a ball not struck by the batsman: allotted to the team as an extra and not to the individual batsmanAlso called (in Britain and certain other countries): bye

the sack informal dismissal from employment

a slang word for bed

hit the sack slang to go to bed

rough as sacks NZ uncouth

verb (tr)

informal to dismiss from employment

to put into a sack or sacks

Derived Formssacklike, adjective

Word Origin for sack

Old English sacc, from Latin saccus bag, from Greek sakkos; related to Hebrew saq

sack

noun

the plundering of a place by an army or mob, usually involving destruction, slaughter, etc

American football a tackle on a quarterback which brings him down before he has passed the ball

verb

(tr) to plunder and partially destroy (a place)

American football to tackle and bring down a quarterback before he has passed the ball

Derived Formssacker, noun

Word Origin for sack

C16: from French phrase mettre à sac, literally: to put (loot) in a sack, from Latin saccus sack 1

sack

noun

archaic or trademark any dry white wine formerly imported into Britain from SW Europe

Word Origin for sack

C16 wyne seck, from French vin sec dry wine, from Latin siccus dry

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for sack out

sack

n.1

"large bag," Old English sacc (West Saxon), sec (Mercian), sæc (Old Kentish) "large cloth bag," also "sackcloth," from Proto-Germanic *sakkiz (cf. 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 (cf. 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.3

"dismiss from work," 1841, from sack (n.2). 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.

Idioms and Phrases with sack out

sack out

Go to sleep, go to bed, as in We sacked out about midnight. This slangy idiom is a verbal use of the noun sack, slang for “bed” since about 1940; it alludes to a sleeping bag and appears in such similar phrases as in the sack, in bed, and sack time, bedtime.

sack

In addition to the idiom beginning with sack

sack out

also see:

get the ax (sack)
hit the hay (sack)
sad sack