Bag vs. Sack — What's the Difference?

A specific type or category of something.

A plundering or pillaging action.

A pouch-like structure in an animal or plant.

A bag-like anatomical structure.

A bag (also known regionally as a sack) is a common tool in the form of a non-rigid container. The use of bags predates recorded history, with the earliest bags being no more than lengths of animal skin, cotton, or woven plant fibers, folded up at the edges and secured in that shape with strings of the same material.Despite their simplicity, bags have been fundamental for the development of human civilization, as they allow people to easily collect loose materials such as berries or food grains, and to transport more items than could readily be carried in the hands.

A large bag made of a strong material such as hessian, thick paper, or plastic, used for storing and carrying goods.

A container of flexible material, such as paper, plastic, or leather, that is used for carrying or storing items.

A woman's short loose unwaisted dress, typically narrowing at the hem, popular especially in the 1950s.

A handbag; a purse.

Dismissal from employment

A piece of hand luggage, such as a suitcase or satchel.

Bed, especially as regarded as a place for sex.

A pouchlike or sagging organ or part of the body, such as a cow's udder.

A base.

An object that resembles a pouch.

An act of tackling of a quarterback behind the line of scrimmage.

(Nautical) The sagging or bulging part of a sail.

The pillaging of a town or city

The amount that a bag can hold.

A dry white wine formerly imported into Britain from Spain and the Canaries.

An amount of game taken or legally permitted to be taken.

Dismiss from employment

(Baseball) A base.

Tackle (a quarterback) behind the line of scrimmage

(Slang) An area of interest or skill

Put into a sack or sacks

(Slang) A woman considered ugly or unkempt.

(chiefly in historical contexts) plunder and destroy (a captured town or building)

To put into a bag

A bag, especially one made of strong material for holding grain or objects in bulk.

To cause to bulge like a pouch.

The amount that a sack can hold

To capture or kill as game

Also sacque A short loose-fitting garment for women and children.

To gain; acquire

(Slang) Dismissal from employment

To capture or arrest

(Informal) A bed, mattress, or sleeping bag

To accomplish or achieve

(Baseball) A base.

To fail to attend purposely; skip

(Football) A successful attempt at sacking the quarterback.

To stop doing or considering; abandon

The looting or pillaging of a captured city or town.

To terminate the employment of.

Any of various light, dry, strong wines from Spain and the Canary Islands, imported to England in the 1500s and 1600s.

To pack items in a bag.

To place into a sack

To hang loosely

(Slang) To discharge from employment

To swell out; bulge.

(Football) To tackle (a quarterback attempting to pass the ball) behind the line of scrimmage.

A soft container made out of cloth, paper, thin plastic, etc. and open at the top, used to hold food, commodities, and other goods.

To rob (a town, for example) of goods or valuables, especially after capture.

A container made of leather, plastic, or other material, usually with a handle or handles, in which you carry personal items, or clothes or other things that you need for travelling. Includes shopping bags, schoolbags, suitcases, and handbags.

A bag; especially a large bag of strong, coarse material for storage and handling of various commodities, such as potatoes, coal, coffee; or, a bag with handles used at a supermarket, a grocery sack; or, a small bag for small items, a satchel.

(colloquial) One's preference.

The amount a sack holds; also, an archaic or historical measure of varying capacity, depending on commodity type and according to local usage; an old English measure of weight, usually of wool, equal to 13 stone (182 pounds), or in other sources, 26 stone (364 pounds).

(derogatory) An ugly woman.

(uncountable) The plunder and pillaging of a captured town or city.

A fellow gay man.

(uncountable) Loot or booty obtained by pillage.

(baseball) The cloth-covered pillow used for first, second, and third base.

(American football) A successful tackle of the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage. See verb sense⁴ below.

(baseball) First, second, or third base.

(baseball) One of the square bases anchored at first base, second base, or third base.

(preceded by "the") A breathalyzer, so named because it formerly had a plastic bag over the end to measure a set amount of breath.

(informal) Dismissal from employment, or discharge from a position, usually as give (someone) the sack or get the sack. See verb sense⁵ below.

(mathematics) A collection of objects, disregarding order, but (unlike a set) in which elements may be repeated.

Bed (either literally or figuratively); usually as hit the sack or in the sack. See also sack out.

A sac in animal bodies, containing some fluid or other substance.

(dated) (also sacque) A kind of loose-fitting gown or dress with sleeves which hangs from the shoulders, such as a gown with a Watteau back or sack-back, fashionable in the late 17th to 18th century; or, formerly, a loose-fitting hip-length jacket, cloak or cape.

A pouch tied behind a man's head to hold the back-hair of a wig; a bag wig.

(dated) A sack coat; a kind of coat worn by men, and extending from top to bottom without a cross seam.

The quantity of game bagged in a hunt.

The scrotum.

A scrotum.

(dated) A variety of light-colored dry wine from Spain or the Canary Islands; also, any strong white wine from southern Europe; sherry.

(UK) A unit of measure of cement equal to 94 pounds.

Alternative spelling of sac

A dark circle under the eye, caused by lack of sleep, drug addiction etc.

To put in a sack or sacks.

(slang) A small envelope that contains drugs, especially narcotics.

To bear or carry in a sack upon the back or the shoulders.

£1000, a grand.

To plunder or pillage, especially after capture; to obtain spoils of war from.

(informal) A large number or amount.

(American football) To tackle the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage, especially before he is able to throw a pass.

(transitive) To put into a bag.

To discharge from a job or position; to fire.

(transitive) To take with oneself, to assume into one's score

A name formerly given to various dry Spanish wines.

(informal) To catch or kill, especially when fishing or hunting.

A bag for holding and carrying goods of any kind; a receptacle made of some kind of pliable material, as cloth, leather, and the like; a large pouch.

To gain possession of something, or to make first claim on something.

A measure of varying capacity, according to local usage and the substance. The American sack of salt is 215 pounds; the sack of wheat, two bushels.

(slang) To steal.

Originally, a loosely hanging garment for women, worn like a cloak about the shoulders, and serving as a decorative appendage to the gown; now, an outer garment with sleeves, worn by women; as, a dressing sack.

To take a woman away with one as a romantic or sexual interest.

A sack coat; a kind of coat worn by men, and extending from top to bottom without a cross seam.

(slang) To arrest.

See 2d Sac, 2.

(transitive) To furnish or load with a bag.

Bed.

To provide with artificial ventilation via a bag valve mask (BVM) resuscitator.

The pillage or plunder, as of a town or city; the storm and plunder of a town; devastation; ravage.

To fit with a bag to collect urine.

To put in a sack; to bag; as, to sack corn.

To expose exterior shape or physical behaviour resembling that of a bag

To bear or carry in a sack upon the back or the shoulders.

To (cause to) swell or hang down like a full bag.

To plunder or pillage, as a town or city; to devastate; to ravage.

To hang like an empty bag.

A bag made of paper or plastic for holding customer's purchases

To drop away from the correct course.

An enclosed space;

To become pregnant.

The quantity contained in a sack

To forget, ignore, or get rid of.

Any of various light dry strong white wine from Spain and Canary Islands (including sherry)

To show particular puffy emotion

A woman's full loose hiplength jacket

To swell with arrogance.

A hanging bed of canvas or rope netting (usually suspended between two trees); swing easily

To laugh uncontrollably.

A loose-fitting dress hanging straight from the shoulders without a waist

To criticise sarcastically.

The plundering of a place by an army or mob; usually involves destruction and slaughter;

A sack or pouch, used for holding anything; as, a bag of meal or of money.

The termination of someone's employment (leaving them free to depart)

A sac, or dependent gland, in animal bodies, containing some fluid or other substance; as, the bag of poison in the mouth of some serpents; the bag of a cow.

Plunder (a town) after capture;

A sort of silken purse formerly tied about men's hair behind, by way of ornament.

Terminate the employment of;

The quantity of game bagged.

Make as a net profit;

A certain quantity of a commodity, such as it is customary to carry to market in a sack; as, a bag of pepper or hops; a bag of coffee.

Put in a sack;

To put into a bag; as, to bag hops.

A large container made of strong material for holding bulk items.

To seize, capture, or entrap; as, to bag an army; to bag game.

The act of dismissing someone from employment.

To furnish or load with a bag or with a well filled bag.

A bed, or going to bed.

To swell or hang down like a full bag; as, the skin bags from containing morbid matter.

To swell with arrogance.

To become pregnant.

A flexible container with a single opening;

The quantity of game taken in a particular period (usually by one person);

Place that runner must touch before scoring;

A bag used for carrying money and small personal items or accessories (especially by women);

The quantity that a bag will hold;

A portable rectangular traveling bag for carrying clothes;

An ugly or ill-tempered woman;

Mammary gland of bovids (cows and sheep and goats)

An activity that you like or at which you are superior;

Capture or kill, as in hunting;

Hang loosely, like an empty bag

Bulge out; form a bulge outward, or be so full as to appear to bulge

Take unlawfully

Put into a bag;

A container made of flexible material with an opening at the top.

An item used for carrying personal belongings.

To secure or achieve something.

Yes, handbags are a type of bag designed for carrying personal items.

Typically, sacks are larger; however, context can influence the term's usage.

Yes, in slang, "to bag" can mean to secure or achieve something.

No, "getting the sack" is a colloquialism meaning being fired from a job.

While they can sometimes be used interchangeably, "Sack" generally refers to larger, more rugged containers, whereas "Bag" has a broader meaning.

It's a colloquial expression. Historically, some beds or mattresses were sack-like, filled with straw.

No, while burlap is common, sacks can be made of other strong materials.

Yes, historically "to sack" meant to loot or plunder a city.

Absolutely, many bags, especially handbags, are designed with fashion in mind.

Yes, in informal speech, "bag" can refer to a type or kind, as in "That's not my bag."

While atypical, some large, sack-like bags could function as purses or tote bags.

Mostly yes, but in broader contexts, "bag" can have other meanings or metaphorical uses.

No, a sack dress is a type of women's dress, named for its shape, not its material or function.

Yes, both can be made of fabric, but sacks are often made of tougher materials.

It's commonly called a bag, but in some regions or contexts, it might be termed a sack.