Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Sacking.
- noun A rough cloth of camel's hair, goat hair, hemp, cotton, or flax.
- noun Garments made of this cloth, worn as a symbol of mourning or penitence.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Cloth of which sacks are made, usually a cloth of hemp or flax.
- noun A coarse kind of cloth worn as a sign of grief, humiliation, or penitence; hence, the garb of mourning or penance.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Linen or cotton cloth such as sacks are made of; coarse cloth; anciently, a cloth or garment worn in mourning, distress, mortification, or penitence.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
coarse hessian style ofcloth used to makesacks . - noun ,
garments worn as an act ofpenance . Now often usedfiguratively .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a garment made of coarse sacking; formerly worn as an indication of remorse
- noun a coarse cloth resembling sacking
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word sackcloth.
Examples
-
` Nor will you be able to take pleasure in sackcloth, 'he said gravely.
-
` Nor will you be able to take pleasure in sackcloth, 'he said gravely.
-
What would be the point of covering myself in sackcloth and ashes?
The Volokh Conspiracy » Juveniles on Probation, and Their Parents’ Guns (and Other Weapons) 2010
-
In my view, the Deputy Chief should have been round to the house in sackcloth on bended knee, apologising in person for such a crass move.
Hayley Adamson is dead but Northumbria wins Gold! « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2010
-
Clothed in sackcloth and ashes, they are continuing their work of expiation.
-
In those days, people walked around in sackcloth and ashes, when they were in mourning, fasting, or in a state of repentance.
Sackcloth and Ashes 2008
-
In those days, people walked around in sackcloth and ashes, when they were in mourning, fasting, or in a state of repentance.
Archive 2008-04-01 2008
-
Grandpa: We were so poor then, we lived in sackcloth and ashes.
Harold Pinter, eat your heart out. lili 2007
-
Grandpa: We were so poor then, we lived in sackcloth and ashes.
Archive 2007-04-01 lili 2007
-
But it is better to live here in sackcloth and ashes than to own the whole state of Ohio.
Archive 2007-07-01 2007
bilby commented on the word sackcloth
From a comment on languagehat:
“Sackcloth”, often used in the masochistic sense of “hair shirt”, apparently traces back to the Persian “Sakkalat, saklatun”, which meant a kind of woollen broadcloth. (“Sack” + “cloth” is a apparently a etymology.) The form “syklatoun” is seen in Chaucer. “Sackcloth” is attested in 1430 (OED old ed). The term “suklat” was used in England in the XIXc for certain blankets or camlets from China.
Yule says that according to Skeat, “scarlet” also traces back to “sakkalat”, and first meant the kind of cloth, and only later meant a certain color of this cloth.
“Ciclas” is an XIIIc Italian or Latin translation of “siklatoun”. This is shouting distance of “celice”.
HOWEVER, the old OED doesn’t recognize any of this, and does not seem to list Chaucer’s “syklatoun”.
August 12, 2020