sack

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A large bag made of strong material like cloth or paper, used for carrying things.

   He carried a sack of potatoes on his shoulder.

2. 2
   noun

   The act of forcing someone to leave their job; dismissal.

   He got the sack for arriving late every day.

3. 3
   verb

   To dismiss someone from their job.

   The manager was sacked after the team's poor season.

4. 4
   verb

   To rob and destroy a town after capturing it.

   The invading army sacked the ancient city.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Sack, meaning a bag, entered Old English through the language of the continental Anglo-Saxons after passing from a Semitic source through Greek and Latin; it is related to Dutch zak and German Sack. The sense “to plunder a town” came from French in the mid-16th century, perhaps from the phrase mettre à sac, “put to the sack,” referring to carrying away loot in sacks. The employment sense “dismiss” dates from the early 19th century and probably echoes a French expression.

From Middle English sak, sek, sach, zech (“bag, sackcloth”), from Old English sacc (“sack, bag”) and sæċċ (“sackcloth, sacking”); both from Proto-West Germanic *sakku, from late Proto-Germanic *sakkuz (“sack”), borrowed from Latin saccus (“large bag”), from Ancient Greek σάκκος (sákkos, “bag of coarse cloth”), from Semitic, possibly Phoenician or Hebrew. Cognate with Dutch zak, German Sack, Swedish säck, Danish sæk, Hebrew שַׂק (śaq, “sack, sackcloth”), Aramaic סַקָּא, Classical Syriac ܣܩܐ, Ge'ez ሠቅ (śäḳ), Akkadian 𒆭𒊓 (saqqu), Egyptian sꜣgꜣ. Doublet of sac, saccus, saco, and sakkos. Černý and…

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