/ sæk; NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun
1.
[ C ] a large bag with no handles, made of strong rough material or strong paper or plastic, used for storing and carrying, for example flour, coal, etc.
2.
[ C ] ( NAmE ) a strong paper bag for carrying shopping
3.
[ C ] the contents of a sack :
They got through a sack of potatoes.
( NAmE )
two sacks of groceries
4.
the sack [ sing. ] ( BrE , informal ) being told by your employer that you can no longer continue working for a company, etc., usually because of sth that you have done wrong :
He got the sack for swearing.
Her work was so poor that she was given the sack .
Four hundred workers face the sack.
5.
the sack [ sing. ] ( informal , especially NAmE ) a bed :
He caught them in the sack together.
6.
(usually the sack ) [ sing. ] ( formal ) the act of stealing or destroying property in a captured town :
the sack of Rome
•
IDIOMS
see hit verb
■ verb [ vn ]
1.
( informal , especially BrE ) to dismiss sb from a job
SYN fire :
She was sacked for refusing to work on Sundays.
2.
(of an army, etc., especially in the past) to destroy things and steal property in a town or building :
Rome was sacked by the Goths in 410.
3.
( in American football ) to knock down the quarterback
•
PHRASAL VERBS
- sack out
••
WORD ORIGIN
verb sense 1 and verb sense 3 noun senses 1 to 5 Old English sacc , from Latin saccus sack, sackcloth, from Greek sakkos , of Semitic origin. Sense 1 of the verb dates from the mid 19th cent.
verb sense 2 and noun sense 6 mid 16th cent.: from French sac , in the phrase mettre à sac put to sack, on the model of Italian fare il sacco , mettere a sacco , which perhaps originally referred to filling a sack with plunder.