Library / English Dictionary

SACK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The termination of someone's employment (leaving them free to depart)

Synonyms:

discharge; dismissal; dismission; firing; liberation; release; sack; sacking

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("sack" is a kind of...):

conclusion; ending; termination (the act of ending something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sack"):

superannuation (the act of discharging someone because of age (especially to cause someone to retire from service on a pension))

conge; congee (an abrupt and unceremonious dismissal)

removal (dismissal from office)

deactivation; inactivation (breaking up a military unit (by transfers or discharges))

honorable discharge (a discharge from the armed forces with a commendable record)

dishonorable discharge (a discharge from the armed forces for a grave offense (as sabotage or espionage or cowardice or murder))

Section Eight (a discharge from the US Army based on unfitness or character traits deemed undesirable)

Derivation:

sack (terminate the employment of; discharge from an office or position)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The plundering of a place by an army or mob; usually involves destruction and slaughter

Example:

the sack of Rome

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("sack" is a kind of...):

pillage; pillaging; plundering (the act of stealing valuable things from a place)

Derivation:

sack (plunder (a town) after capture)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A loose-fitting dress hanging straight from the shoulders without a waist

Synonyms:

chemise; sack; shift

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("sack" is a kind of...):

dress; frock (a one-piece garment for a woman; has skirt and bodice)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A hanging bed of canvas or rope netting (usually suspended between two trees); swings easily

Synonyms:

hammock; sack

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("sack" is a kind of...):

bed (a piece of furniture that provides a place to sleep)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A bag made of paper or plastic for holding customer's purchases

Synonyms:

carrier bag; paper bag; poke; sack

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("sack" is a kind of...):

bag (a flexible container with a single opening)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sack"):

doggie bag; doggy bag (a bag for food that a customer did not eat at a restaurant; the transparent pretense is that the food is taken home to feed the customer's dog)

grocery bag (a sack for holding customer's groceries)

Derivation:

sack (put in a sack)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A woman's full loose hiplength jacket

Synonyms:

sack; sacque

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("sack" is a kind of...):

jacket (a short coat)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Any of various light dry strong white wine from Spain and Canary Islands (including sherry)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("sack" is a kind of...):

white wine (pale yellowish wine made from white grapes or red grapes with skins removed before fermentation)

Sense 8

Meaning:

The quantity contained in a sack

Synonyms:

sack; sackful

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("sack" is a kind of...):

containerful (the quantity that a container will hold)

Derivation:

sack (put in a sack)

Sense 9

Meaning:

An enclosed space

Example:

the trapped miners found a pocket of air

Synonyms:

pocket; pouch; sac; sack

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("sack" is a kind of...):

cavity; enclosed space (space that is surrounded by something)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Put in a sack

Example:

The grocer sacked the onions

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "sack" is one way to...):

case; encase; incase (enclose in, or as if in, a case)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Also:

sack up (make as a net profit)

Derivation:

sack (a bag made of paper or plastic for holding customer's purchases)

sack (the quantity contained in a sack)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make as a net profit

Example:

The company cleared $1 million

Synonyms:

clear; net; sack; sack up

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "sack" is one way to...):

benefit; gain; profit (derive a benefit from)

Verb group:

bring in; clear; earn; gain; make; pull in; realise; realize; take in (earn on some commercial or business transaction; earn as salary or wages)

clear; net (yield as a net profit)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Plunder (a town) after capture

Example:

the barbarians sacked Rome

Synonyms:

plunder; sack

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "sack" is one way to...):

take (take by force)

"Sack" entails doing...:

destroy; ruin (destroy completely; damage irreparably)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

sack (the plundering of a place by an army or mob; usually involves destruction and slaughter)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Terminate the employment of; discharge from an office or position

Example:

The company terminated 25% of its workers

Synonyms:

can; dismiss; displace; fire; force out; give notice; give the axe; give the sack; sack; send away; terminate

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "sack" is one way to...):

remove (remove from a position or an office)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sack"):

retire (make (someone) retire)

pension off (let go from employment with an attractive pension)

clean out (force out)

furlough; lay off (dismiss, usually for economic reasons)

squeeze out (force out)

dismiss; drop; send away; send packing (stop associating with)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE

Derivation:

sack; sacking (the termination of someone's employment (leaving them free to depart))

Credits

 Context examples: 

It was him that sacked me without a character on the word of a lying corn-chandler.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Everybody acknowledged Buck a magnificent animal, but twenty fifty-pound sacks of flour bulked too large in their eyes for them to loosen their pouch-strings.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

It was as if the tranquil sanctuary of my boyhood had been sacked before my face, and its peace and honour given to the winds.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

This huge sack had been sewn up at one end and only a small orifice left at the other.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The University of Massachusetts scientists set out to scrutinize the contents of tiny sacks released by cells called extracellular vesicles.

(Memory gene goes viral, National Institutes of Health)

Of particular danger to the reefs were single-use plastic bags, chip bags, diapers and rice sacks.

(Plastic debris linked to coral disease, death, SciDev.Net)

It was my system which enabled me to find John Warner, late gardener of High Gable, sacked in a moment of temper by his imperious employer.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He had cut through a bulkhead unobserved and had removed one of the sacks of coin, worth perhaps three or four hundred guineas, to help him on his further wanderings.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

What in the world are you going to do now, Jo? asked Meg one snowy afternoon, as her sister came tramping through the hall, in rubber boots, old sack, and hood, with a broom in one hand and a shovel in the other.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Right over the town is the ruin of Whitby Abbey, which was sacked by the Danes, and which is the scene of part of "Marmion," where the girl was built up in the wall.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)