sackcloth

[sak-klawth, -kloth]

noun

coarse cloth worn as a sign of mourning or penitence.

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

Contemporary Examples of sackcloth

Why do we don the sackcloth and ashes of the eternal victims?
Today's Lamentations
Aryeh Cohen
July 29, 2012

Historical Examples of sackcloth

My poor boy, he who is sitting in sackcloth and ashes needs no jester.
The Armourer's Prentices
Charlotte M. Yonge
A whole year of sackcloth and ashes would not be penance for such iniquity.
A Day's Ride
Charles James Lever
Giving a hitch to her sackcloth, she departed and banged the door.
A Great Man
Arnold Bennett
They may repair their garments with sackcloth and other remnants.
An Introduction to the History of Western Europe
James Harvey Robinson
Lament like a virgin Girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth!
Select Masterpieces of Biblical Literature
Various

British Dictionary definitions for sackcloth

sackcloth

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

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.