sackcloth

[ sak-klawth, -kloth ]

/ ˈsækˌklɔθ, -ˌklɒθ /

noun

coarse cloth worn as a sign of mourning or penitence.

Nearby words

Idioms

in sackcloth and ashes, in a state of repentance or sorrow; contrite: She would be in sackcloth and ashes for days over every trifling error she made.

Origin of sackcloth

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at sack¹, cloth

Related formssack·clothed, adjective

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

Examples from the Web for sackcloth

Why do we don the sackcloth and ashes of the eternal victims?
Today's Lamentations|Aryeh Cohen|July 29, 2012|DAILY BEAST
One is sorry for the poor men so proud of their sackcloth and with such encouraging recognition already won.
London|Walter Besant
He had been made sure that she had repented her own deed in sackcloth and ashes.
The Prime Minister|Anthony Trollope
Their dress is a tunic of sackcloth, tied round the waist with a knotted rope.
Letters from Spain|Joseph Blanco White

What do you suppose those Virginia girls were going to do about it, put on sackcloth and ashes?
From Bull Run to Appomattox|Luther W. Hopkins
We believe in them for the moment, and waste laughter and tears, chaplets and sackcloth, upon them.
In the Days of My Youth|Amelia Ann Blandford Edwards

British Dictionary definitions for sackcloth

sackcloth

/ (ˈsækˌklɒθ) /

noun

coarse cloth such as sacking

garments made of such cloth, worn formerly to indicate mourning or penitence

sackcloth and ashes a public display of extreme grief, remorse, or repentance

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 sackcloth

sackcloth

penitential or grieving garb, late 13c., literally "cloth of which sacks are made," from sack (n.1) + cloth. In the Biblical sense it was of goats' or camels' hair, the coarsest possible clothing.