subs. (old cant).—A pocket. As verb = to pocket; TO DIVE INTO A SACK = to pick a pocket.—B. E. (c. 1696); DYCHE (1748); GROSE (1785); VAUX (1812); EGAN (1823). Cf. DOODLESACK.
1858. A. MAYHEW, Paved with Gold, III. iii. I’ve brought a couple of bene coves, with lots of the Queen’s pictures [money] in their SACKS.
PHRASES are: TO GIVE (or GET) THE SACK (BAG, BILLET, BULLET, CANVAS, KICK-OUT, MITTEN, PIKE, or ROAD) = to give or get discharge: from employment, office, position, &c.: see BAG: also TO SACK and TO BESTOW (or GET) THE ORDER OF THE SACK; TO BUY THE SACK = to get drunk (GROSE); TO BREAK A BOTTLE IN AN EMPTY SACK = ‘a bubble bet, a sack with a bottle in it not being an empty sack’ (GROSE); MORE SACKS TO THE MILL! = (1) Pile it on! a call to increased exertion, and (2) plenty in store.
1607. DEKKER and WEBSTER, Westward Ho! ii. 1. There’s other irons i’ th’ fire, MORE SACKS are coming TO THE MILL.
1653. MIDDLETON and ROWLEY, The Spanish Gipsy, iv. 1. Soto. MORE SACKS TO THE MILL. San. More thieves to the sacks.
1837. DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, xx. I wonder what old Fogg would say?… I should GET THE SACK, I suppose.
1840–45. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends, ‘The Lay of St. Medard,’ II. 247.
| Dont … fancy, because a man’s nous seems to lack, | |
| That, whenever you please, you can ‘GIVE HIM THE SACK!’ |
1864. YATES, Broken to Harness, xxi. If it rested with me, doctor, I’d give him unlimited leave, confer on him THE ORDER OF THE SACK.
1867. All the Year Round, 13 July, 55. When hands are being ‘SACKED.’
1895. Standard, 18 April, 1, 1. Thus GIVING THE SACK arose from the fact that masters or mistresses gave dismissed servants a rough bag in which to pack up their belongings, in order to expedite their departure.
1900. KIPLING, Stalky & Co., 10. Then you must SACK your keeper. He’s not fit to live in the same county with a God-fearin’ fox.
