We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website. By continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Find out more

Subscriber login

Library card login

Other

X Close menu

Dictionary Language resources

sack2

Pronunciation: /sak/

Translate sack | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish

Definition of sack

verb

[with object]

(chiefly in historical contexts) plunder and destroy (a captured town or building): the fort was rebuilt in AD 158 and was sacked again in AD 197

noun

the pillaging of a town or city:the sack of Rome

Origin:

mid 16th century: 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