Meanings
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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.
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2
noun
The act of forcing someone to leave their job; dismissal.
He got the sack for arriving late every day.
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3
verb
To dismiss someone from their job.
The manager was sacked after the team's poor season.
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4
verb
To rob and destroy a town after capturing it.
The invading army sacked the ancient city.
Thesaurus
Etymology
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…