online medical dictionary | definition of sack

To plunder or pillage, as a town or city; to devastate; to ravage. "The Romans lay under the apprehension of seeing their city sacked by a barbarous enemy." (Addison)

Origin: See Sack pillage.

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.

3. [Perhaps a different word] Originally, a loosely hanging garnment 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 saek.

Alternative forms: sacque.

4. A sack coat; a kind of coat worn by men, and extending from top to bottom without a cross seam.

5. <biology> See Sac.

<zoology> Sack bearer . See Basket worm, under Basket.

<botany> Sack tree, an East Indian tree (Antiaris saccidora) which is cut into lengths, and made into sacks by turning the bark inside out, and leaving a slice of the wood for a bottom. To give the sack to or get the sack, to discharge, or be discharged, from employment; to jilt, or be jilted.

Origin: OE. Sak, sek, AS. Sacc, saecc, L. Saccus, Gr. From Heb. Sak; cf. F. Sac from the Latin. Cf. Sac, Satchel, Sack to plunder.

(01 Mar 1998)