sackcloth

sackcloth

English

Etymology

From Middle English sakcloth, sekcloth, sekclath, sekklath, equivalent to sack +‎ cloth.

Noun

sackcloth (countable and uncountable, plural sackcloths)

1. A coarse hessian style of cloth used to make sacks.
2. (usually with “and ashes”, also figurative) Garments worn as an act of penance.

   Synonyms: hairshirt, cilice

   After he realised the gravity of his crime he spent some time wearing sackcloth and ashes.

Translations

cloth

Bulgarian: зебло (bg) n (zeblo), кеневир m (kenevir) Chinese: Mandarin: 麻布 (zh) (mábù) Cornish: yskar m Danish: sækkelærred n Egyptian: (sꜣgꜣ) Finnish: säkkikangas (fi) French: toile à sac f German: Sackleinen n Greek: Ancient: σάκκος m (sákkos) Hebrew: שַׂק‎ (he) m (shaq) Irish: éadach lín m, éadach saic m Macedonian: зе́бло n (zéblo) Manx: aanrit-sack Middle English: sak Ottoman Turkish: قیل‎ (qıl) Plautdietsch: Sakzeich n Portuguese: aniagem f Russian: мешкови́на (ru) f (meškovína), дерю́га (ru) f (derjúga) Scottish Gaelic: aodach-cainb m Ukrainian: мішкови́на f (miškovýna) Welsh: sachliain m

figuratively: garment worn as act of penance

Armenian: քուրձ (hy) (kʿurj) Old Armenian: քուրձ (kʿurj) Bulgarian: власеница f (vlasenica) Danish: sæk (da) c Finnish: säkki (fi) Hebrew: שַׂק‎ (he) m (shaq) Maori: taratara Russian: власяни́ца (ru) f (vlasjaníca) Spanish: sambenito (es) m

Adjective

sackcloth (not comparable)

1. Made of sackcloth.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), OCLC 630079698, page 144:

     Next you saw her alone, a kneeling penitent at the foot of the crucifix; her long fair hair is unbound, and the sackcloth robe is girded by a cord round her slender shape: her hands are clasped, and tears are flowing fast from the quenched radiance of those shadowy eyes;...

See also

• wear sackcloth and ashes

References

• “sackcloth”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, →ISBN.