Adjacent Words

Sack definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SACK, n. [L. saccus. Heb. See the verb to sack.]
1. A bag, usually a large cloth bag, used for holding and conveying corn, small wares, wool, cotton, hops, and the like. Genesis 42.
Sack of wool, in England, is 22 stone of 14lb. each, or 308 pounds. In Scotland, it is 24 stone of 16 pounds each, or 384 pounds.
A sack of cotton, contains usually about 300lb. but it may be fRomans 150 to 400 pounds.
Sack of earth, in fortification, is a canvas bag filled with earth, used in making retrenchments in haste.
2. The measure of three bushels.
SACK, n. A species of sweet wine, brought chiefly from the Canary isles.
SACK, n. [L. sagum, whence Gr. But the word is Celtic or Teutonic.]
Among our rude ancestors, a kind of cloak of a square form, worn over the shoulders and body, and fastened in from by a clasp or thorn. It was originally made of skin, afterwards of wool. In modern times, this name has been given to a woman's garment, a gown with loose plaits on the back; but no garment of this kind is now worn, and the word is in disuse. [See Varro, Strabo, Cluver, Bochart.]
SACK, v.t. To put in a sac or in bags.
SACK, v.t. [From comparing this word and sack, a bag, in several languages, it appears that they are both from one root, and that the primary sense is to strain, pull, draw; hence sack, a bag, is a tie, that which is tied or drawn together; and sack, to pillage, is to pull, to strip, that is, to take away by violence.]
To plunder or pillage, as a town or city. Rome was twice taken and sacked in the reign of one pope. This word is never, I believe, applied to the robbing of persons, or pillaging of single houses, but to the pillaging of towns and cities; and as towns are usually or often sacked, when taken by assault, the word may sometimes include the sense of taking by storm.
The Romans lay under the apprehension of seeing their city sacked by a barbarous enemy.
SACK, n. The pillage or plunder of a town or city; or the storm and plunder of a town; as the sack of Troy.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a bag made of paper or plastic for holding customer's purchases [syn: sack, poke, paper bag, carrier bag]
2: an enclosed space; "the trapped miners found a pocket of air" [syn: pouch, sac, sack, pocket]
3: the quantity contained in a sack [syn: sack, sackful]
4: any of various light dry strong white wine from Spain and Canary Islands (including sherry)
5: a woman's full loose hiplength jacket [syn: sack, sacque]
6: a hanging bed of canvas or rope netting (usually suspended between two trees); swings easily [syn: hammock, sack]
7: a loose-fitting dress hanging straight from the shoulders without a waist [syn: chemise, sack, shift]
8: the plundering of a place by an army or mob; usually involves destruction and slaughter; "the sack of Rome"
9: the termination of someone's employment (leaving them free to depart) [syn: dismissal, dismission, discharge, firing, liberation, release, sack, sacking] v
1: plunder (a town) after capture; "the barbarians sacked Rome" [syn: sack, plunder]
2: terminate the employment of; discharge from an office or position; "The boss fired his secretary today"; "The company terminated 25% of its workers" [syn: displace, fire, give notice, can, dismiss, give the axe, send away, sack, force out, give the sack, terminate] [ant: employ, engage, hire]
3: make as a net profit; "The company cleared $1 million" [syn: net, sack, sack up, clear]
4: put in a sack; "The grocer sacked the onions"

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English sak bag, sackcloth, from Old English sacc, from Latin saccus bag & Late Latin saccus sackcloth, both from Greek sakkos bag, sackcloth, of Semitic origin; akin to Hebrew ?aq bag, sackcloth Date: before 12th century 1. a usually rectangular-shaped bag (as of paper, burlap, or canvas) 2. the amount contained in a sack; especially a fixed amount of a commodity used as a unit of measure 3. a. a woman's loose-fitting dress b. a short usually loose-fitting coat for women and children c. sacque 2 4. dismissal <gave him the sack> 5. a. hammock, bunk b. bed 6. a base in baseball 7. an instance of sacking the quarterback in football • sackful noun II. transitive verb Date: 14th century 1. to put in or as if in a sack 2. to dismiss especially summarily 3. to tackle (the quarterback) behind the line of scrimmage in football • sacker noun III. noun Etymology: modification of Middle French sec dry, from Latin siccus; probably akin to Old High German s?han to filter, Sanskrit sińcati he pours Date: circa 1532 any of several white wines imported to England from Spain and the Canary Islands during the 16th and 17th centuries IV. transitive verb Etymology: ⁵sack Date: circa 1547 1. to plunder (as a town) especially after capture 2. to strip of valuables ; loot Synonyms: see ravage • sacker noun V. noun Etymology: Middle French sac, from Old Italian sacco, literally, bag, from Latin saccus Date: 1549 the plundering of a captured town

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. & v. --n. 1 a a large strong bag, usu. made of hessian, paper, or plastic, for storing or conveying goods. b (usu. foll. by of) this with its contents (a sack of potatoes). c a quantity contained in a sack. 2 (prec. by the) colloq. dismissal from employment. 3 (prec. by the) US sl. bed. 4 a a woman's short loose dress with a sacklike appearance. b archaic or hist. a woman's loose gown, or a silk train attached to the shoulders of this. 5 a man's or woman's loose-hanging coat not shaped to the back. --v.tr. 1 put into a sack or sacks. 2 colloq. dismiss from employment. Phrases and idioms: sack race a race between competitors in sacks up to the waist or neck. Derivatives: sackful n. (pl. -fuls). sacklike adj. Etymology: OE sacc f. L saccus f. Gk sakkos, of Semitic orig. 2. v. & n. --v.tr. 1 plunder and destroy (a captured town etc.). 2 steal valuables from (a place). --n. the sacking of a captured place. Etymology: orig. as noun, f. F sac in phr. mettre à sac put to sack, f. It. sacco SACK(1) 3. n. hist. a white wine formerly imported into Britain from Spain and the Canaries (sherry sack). Etymology: 16th-c. wyne seck, f. F vin sec dry wine

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sack Sack (s[scr]k), n. [OE. seck, F. sec dry (cf. Sp. seco, It. secco), from L. siccus dry, harsh; perhaps akin to Gr. 'ischno`s, Skr. sikata sand, Ir. sesc dry, W. hysp. Cf. Desiccate.] A name formerly given to various dry Spanish wines. ``Sherris sack.'' --Shak. Sack posset, a posset made of sack, and some other ingredients.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sack Sack, n. [OE. sak, sek, AS. sacc, s[ae]cc, L. saccus, Gr. sa`kkos from Heb. sak; cf. F. sac, from the Latin. Cf. Sac, Satchel, Sack to plunder.] 1. A bag for holding and carrying goods of any kind; a receptacle made of some kind of pliable material, as cloth, leather, and the like; a large pouch. 2. A measure of varying capacity, according to local usage and the substance. The American sack of salt is 215 pounds; the sack of wheat, two bushels. --McElrath. 3. [Perhaps a different word.] Originally, a loosely hanging garment for women, worn like a cloak about the shoulders, and serving as a decorative appendage to the gown; now, an outer garment with sleeves, worn by women; as, a dressing sack. [Written also sacque.] 4. A sack coat; a kind of coat worn by men, and extending from top to bottom without a cross seam. 5. (Biol.) See 2d Sac, 2.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sack Sack, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sacked; p. pr. & vb. n. Sacking.] [See Sack pillage.] To plunder or pillage, as a town or city; to devastate; to ravage. The Romans lay under the apprehensions of seeing their city sacked by a barbarous enemy. --Addison.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sack Sack, v. t. 1. To put in a sack; to bag; as, to sack corn. Bolsters sacked in cloth, blue and crimson. --L. Wallace. 2. To bear or carry in a sack upon the back or the shoulders. [Colloq.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sack Sack, n. [F. sac plunder, pillage, originally, a pack, packet, booty packed up, fr. L. saccus. See Sack a bag.] The pillage or plunder, as of a town or city; the storm and plunder of a town; devastation; ravage. The town was stormed, and delivered up to sack, -- by which phrase is to be understood the perpetration of all those outrages which the ruthless code of war allowed, in that age, on the persons and property of the defenseless inhabitants, without regard to sex or age. --Prescott.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(sacks, sacking, sacked) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A sack is a large bag made of rough woven material. Sacks are used to carry or store things such as vegetables or coal. ...a sack of potatoes. N-COUNT: oft N of n 2. If your employers sack you, they tell you that you can no longer work for them because you have done something that they did not like or because your work was not good enough. (BUSINESS) Earlier today the Prime Minister sacked 18 government officials for corruption... = fire VERB: V n • Sack is also a noun. People who make mistakes can be given the sack the same day. N-SING: the N 3. Some people refer to bed as the sack. (INFORMAL) N-SING: the N

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Bag, pouch. 2. Spoliation, destruction, desolation, devastation, havoc, waste, ravage, sackage, despoilment. 3. Booty, spoil, plunder. 4. Sherry, sherry wine. II. v. a. Ravage, despoil, devastate, spoil, plunder, pillage, take by storm.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

A pocket. To buy the sack: to get drunk. To dive into the sack; to pick a pocket. To break a bottle in an empty sack; a bubble bet, a sack with a bottle in it not being an empty sack.

Moby Thesaurus

acquire, assault, attack, ax, bag, balloon, banditry, barbarize, barrel, basket, batter, be seized of, bed, bedstead, bladder, boot, boot out, bottle, bounce, box, box up, break, brigandage, brigandism, brutalize, bump, bunk, burden, burn, bust, butcher, can, capsule, capture, carry on, carton, case, cashier, cashiering, cask, catch, chuck, come by, come in for, come into, conge, container, contract, corral, couch, crate, defrock, degrade, demote, deplume, deposal, depose, depredate, depredation, deprive, derive, desecrate, desolate, despoil, despoiling, despoilment, despoliation, destroy, devastate, devour, direption, disbar, discharge, disemploy, disemployment, dismiss, dismissal, displace, displacing, displume, doss, drag down, draw, drop, drum out, drumming out, earn, encase, encyst, enmesh, ensnare, entangle, enter into possession, entrap, expel, fill, fire, firing, fleece, fob, forage, foraging, foray, forced separation, foul, freeboot, freebooting, freight, furlough, furloughing, gain, get, give the ax, give the gate, go on, gurney, gut, hammer, hamper, harpoon, harvest, heap, heap up, hit the hay, hit the sack, hook, jar, kick, kick out, kick upstairs, kip, kip down, lade, land, lasso, lay off, lay waste, layoff, let go, let out, litter, load, loot, looting, make, make redundant, maraud, marauding, mass, maul, mesh, mug, nail, net, noose, obtain, pack, pack away, package, parcel, pension off, pile, pillage, pillaging, pink slip, plunder, plundering, pocket, poke, pot, pouch, prey on, procure, pull down, rage, raid, raiding, ramp, rampage, ransack, ransacking, rant, rape, rapine, ravage, ravagement, ravaging, rave, raven, ravish, ravishment, razzia, read out of, reap, reive, reiving, release, removal, remove, replace, retire, retirement, rifle, rifling, riot, roar, rope, ruin, sac, sack out, sacking, savage, score, secure, send packing, separate forcibly, ship, slaughter, snag, snare, sniggle, sofa, sow chaos, spear, spoil, spoiling, spoliate, spoliation, stack, store, storm, stow, stretcher, strip, superannuate, surplus, surplusing, suspend, suspension, sweep, take, tangle, tangle up with, tank, tear, tear around, terminate, terrorize, the ax, the boot, the bounce, the gate, the hay, the sack, ticket, tin, trap, turn in, turn off, turn out, unfrock, vandalize, violate, walking papers, waste, win, wreck