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The meaning and origin of the expression: Get the sack

Get the sack

What's the meaning of the phrase 'Get the sack'?

Be dismissed from a job.

What's the origin of the phrase 'Get the sack'?

The probable derivation of this phrase is an allusion to tradesmen, who owned their own tools and took them with them in a bag or sack when they were dismissed from employment.

It has been known in France since the 17th century, as 'On luy a donné son sac'. The first recorded English version is in Charles Westmacott's The English Spy, 1825:

"You munna split on me, or I shall get the zack for telling on ye."

In his 1869 A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant and Vulgar Words, John Hotten records these alternatives - 'get the bag' (from the North of England) and 'get the empty' (from London).

See also, the order of the boot.

Gary Martin - the author of the phrases.org.uk website.

By Gary Martin

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