sacking


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sack (someone)

slang To dismiss someone from employment or service. The boss will sack you if he sees you've been wasting your time like this. A: "You lost your job?" B: "Yeah, they sacked me for being late too many times."
See also: sack

sack out

To go to bed or to fall asleep. I'd been getting up so early all week long that I was ready to sack out by 11 on Friday night. Jonathan sacked out in the passenger seat, so I had to drive nearly the whole way in total silence.
See also: out, sack

sack up

1. To put or pack something into a sack or bag. In this usage, a noun or pronoun can be used between "sack" and "up." My first job was sacking up people's groceries at the store down the road for $5 an hour. Don't worry about wrinkling the clothes. Just sack them up.
2. vulgar slang To start acting in a strong, confident, and/or courageous manner, especially after having previously failed to do so. In this usage, "sack" is slang for the scrotum, a reference to testicles, which are used figuratively to represent confidence, courage, bravado, etc. The phrase is not exclusively applied to males. Often used as an imperative. You need to sack up and ask your boss for a raise already! What's he going to do, fire you? Janet, I know you're nervous about asking Tom out on a date, but just sack up and give it a shot!
3. slang To have sexual relations with someone. In this usage, "sack" is slang for a bed. A: "I heard that Tom has been sacking up with some 30-year-old accountant from his old law firm." B: "Wow, he hasn't even been divorced a month!" I can't believe you and your ex-boyfriend sacked up again.
See also: sack, up

sack up with (one)

slang To have sexual relations with one. A: "I heard that Tom has been sacking up with some 30-year-old accountant from his old law firm." B: "Wow, he hasn't been divorced for longer than a month!" I can't believe you sacked up with your ex-boyfriend again.
See also: sack, up

sad sack

1. noun A hopelessly inept, blundering person who can't do anything right. That poor sad sack Sarah has been stuck in the same dead-end role in this company for years.
2. noun A sad, moping person, especially one who refuses to try and improve their mood or situation. Don't be such a sad sack—I know you're disappointed about missing the concert, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun tonight! He just sat there like a sad sack, sulking in the corner of the party.
3. verb To be in a sad, moping mood, especially while refusing to try and improve one's mood or situation. Usually used in the continuous tense; sometimes hyphenated. If you don't quit sad sacking back there, I'm going to turn the car around and drive us all straight back home! Bill's been sad-sacking around the office ever since he got passed over for the promotion.
See also: sack, sad
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

sack out

to go to bed or go to sleep. It's time for me to sack out. Let's sack out early tonight.
See also: out, sack

sack something up

to put something into bags or sacks. Please sack the groceries up and put them in the cart. I will sack up your groceries.
See also: sack, up
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

sack out

Go to sleep, go to bed, as in We sacked out about midnight. This slangy idiom is a verbal use of the noun sack, slang for "bed" since about 1940; it alludes to a sleeping bag and appears in such similar phrases as in the sack, in bed, and sack time, bedtime.
See also: out, sack

sad sack

A singularly inept person, as in Poor George is a hopeless sad sack. This term alludes to a cartoon character, Sad Sack, invented by George Baker in 1942 and representing a soldier in ill-fitting uniform who failed at whatever he tried to do. It was soon transferred to clumsily inept civilians.
See also: sack, sad
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

sad sack

an inept blundering person. informal, chiefly US
See also: sack, sad
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

sack out

v. Slang
To sleep or go to sleep: After a long day at work, I sacked out on the couch.
See also: out, sack
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs. Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

sack up

verb
See nut up
See also: sack, up

sack out

in. to go to bed or go to sleep. (see also sacked out.) It’s time for me to sack out.
See also: out, sack

sad sack

n. a sad person; a listless or depressed person. Tom always looks like such a sad sack.
See also: sack, sad
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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References in periodicals archive ?
The Glasgow tribunal said the sacking was unfair as the firm had not investigated properly.
But I have nothing but admiration for the Gate Gourmet workers and the British Airways staff, in particular, who walked out in protest at the mass sackings of some of the lowest-paid men and women in Britain.
They planned the whole affair to provoke action to allow the sackings.