sackcloth

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English

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Etymology

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From Middle English sakcloth, sekcloth, sekclath, sekklath. By surface analysis, sack +‎ cloth.

Noun

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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.
    • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. [], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, [], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, 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;...
    • 1959, “We Will All Go Together When We Go”, in Tom Lehrer (music), An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer, performed by Tom Lehrer:
      No more ashes, no more sackcloth / And an armband made of black cloth / Will someday never more adorn a sleeve

Derived terms

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