Meaning
To be dismissed from a job, usually unceremoniously. The phrase is informal and common in British and Australian English; in American English 'get fired' or 'get the ax' are more usual, though 'get the sack' is understood. Informal register; blunt and slightly dismissive in tone when applied to a real dismissal. Regional use: British English (understood generally).
Origin
The most widely accepted explanation is that it alludes to tradesmen who owned their own tools and carried them to and from work in a sack; when a worker was dismissed he took up his sack and left, so being 'given the sack' meant losing your job. The Phrase Finder records an equivalent French expression, 'On luy a donne son sac', from the 17th century, and the earliest English citation it gives is from Charles Westmacott's The English Spy (1825), written in dialect: 'I shall get the zack for telling on ye.' John Hotten's 1869 slang dictionary noted regional equivalents such as 'get the bag' in northern England. The sack image is a plausible derivation rather than a documented coinage, so it should be stated as the probable rather than certain origin.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- get the axe
- get the boot
- give someone the sack
- sacked
Usage Examples
- He got the sack after repeatedly arriving late to the warehouse.
- If the merger goes through, half the department worries they will be given the sack.
- She threatened to sack the contractor for missing a third deadline in a row.