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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SACK, n.¹, v.¹ Sc. usages. For other Sc. forms see Seck.

I. n. 1. Combs.: (1) sack-brab [? brat], an apron or rough garment of sack-cloth worn as a penitential sheet in Church discipline. Cf. (3); (2) sackfu, a sackful, in phr. a sackfu o sair banes, in reference to the body after a beating, really a corruption of sarkfu, see Sark; (3) sackgoun, = (1). Cf. sacken goun below.(1) Sc. c.1728 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) III. 206:
And for a year stand like a Sentrie In a sack-brab by the Kirk-entrie.(2) Abd. 1899 W. D. Geddes J. Geddes 19:
A guid licking, maybe a sackfu' o'sair banes.(3) Wgt. 1703 Session Rec. Glasserton MS. (19 Dec.):
The Session desires Patrick McKie, one of ther members to provyde a sackgoun.Ayr. 1723 in Crawfurd MSS. (N.L.S.) S. 4:
The Minister reported to the Session that the Custom of appearing with the Sack-goun was laid aside long ago by the Presbytrie.Lnk. a.1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) II. 21:
Fashing fouks wi' sack gowns and buttock males.Per. 1831 Per. Advertiser (29 Dec.):
Indeed, unless not only the ‘cutty stool', but also ‘the jags' and the ‘sack gown', be speedily restored to their pristine dignity, there is no saying to what an extent iniquity may abound among us.

Derivs.: (1) sacken, made of sackcloth, esp. in reference to the penitential garment, as in combs. sacken-goun, -sark, -weed. In 1801 quot. the spelling shows confusion with Eng. sacking; n., sackcloth, sacking. Also attrib. as in sacken-weaver; (2) sackie, short and thick in physical build (Rxb. 1825 Jam.). Cf. 4.(1) Abd. 1733 W. Forbes Dominie Depos'd (1765) 32, 39:
In case they wear the sacken-weed For fornication . . . He'll get the dud and sacken gown, That ugly sark.Lnk. a.1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) II. 20:
Wha can bide the shame, when every body looks to them, wi' their sacken sarks or gowns on them?Per. 1801 Letters J. Ramsay (S.H.S.) 31:
A divorce, which one always connects with the idea of a sacking gown.Dmf. 1836 A. Cunningham Lord Roldan I. x.:
The sacken-weaver of Duncow, whom folk called Thrums.Ags. 1892 Brechin Advertiser (23 Aug.) 3:
[He] ance threatened to bring the deevil oot o' the black burnin' pit to fling the sacken goon ower the shouders o' a limmer fa was sittin' on the cuttie stool.

2. A dry measure containing 140 or 280 pounds, i.e. one or two bolls, used for oatmeal (Abd., Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1969).Abd. 1950:
Despite the fact that the Government, more than ten years ago, passed a law prohibiting the selling of any grain except by the hundredweight standard, the oatmeal is still quoted and sold to the dealer and merchant by the sack of 140 or 280 pounds, which is a boll and two bolls respectively. The south and central Scottish millers always quote by the 280 pound sack as shown by the Edinburgh and Glasgow quotations in the Scotsman and Glasgow Herald.

3. A bottle (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl.).

4. A contemptuous name for a man, a stupid dull fellow. Dim. sackie, a short dumpy person (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 416).wm.Sc. 1835 Laird of Logan 174:
You! ye Sessantilly sacks, what ken ye about pickin' or setting the millstane?

II. v. As in Eng., to put in a sack. Used fig. in phr. sackit an' set bye, of a person settling down in life, esp. in marriage.Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin xxviii.:
At last we get “sackit an' set bye” . . . Whaur married life begins, there romance ends.