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sack

Pronunciation: /sæk/

The English word “sack” has 19 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A bag; especially a large bag of strong, coarse material for storage and handling of various commodities, such as potatoes, coal, coffee; or, a bag with handles used at a supermarket, a grocery sack; or, a small bag for small items, a satchel.
  2. The amount a sack holds; also, an archaic or historical measure of varying capacity, depending on commodity type and according to local usage; an old English measure of weight, usually of wool, equal to 13 stone (182 pounds), or in other sources, 26 stone (364 pounds).
  3. The plunder and pillaging of a captured town or city.
  4. Loot or booty obtained by pillage.
  5. A successful tackle of the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage.
  6. One of the square bases anchored at first base, second base, or third base.
  7. Dismissal from employment, or discharge from a position.
  8. Bed.
  9. A kind of loose-fitting gown or dress with sleeves which hangs from the shoulders, such as a gown with a Watteau back or sack-back, fashionable in the late 17th to 18th century; or, formerly, a loose-fitting hip-length jacket, cloak or cape.
  10. A sack coat; a kind of coat worn by men, and extending from top to bottom without a cross seam.
  11. The scrotum.
  12. Any disposable bag.
  13. A variety of light-colored dry wine from Spain or the Canary Islands; also, any strong white wine from southern Europe; sherry.

verb

  1. To put in a sack or sacks.
  2. To bear or carry in a sack upon the back or the shoulders.
  3. To plunder or pillage, especially after capture; to obtain spoils of war from.
  4. To tackle the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage, especially before he is able to throw a pass.
  5. To discharge from a job or position; to fire.
  6. To give up on, to abandon, delay, to not think about someone or something.

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,…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.