sack, to get/give the
get the sack
To be fired from a job or task. The new secretary is so rude—it's time she got the sack. I tried so hard to do a good job in Mrs. Smith's garden, but I got the sack anyway.
See also: get, sack
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
get the sack
see under get the ax.
See also: get, sack
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
get the sack
and get the ax tv. to be dismissed from one’s employment. Poor Tom got the sack today. He’s always late. If I miss another day, I’ll get the ax.
See also: get, sack
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
sack, to get/give the
To be fired or dismissed from work; to fire someone. This slangy expression dates from the seventeenth century or even earlier, probably originating in France. In those days workmen provided their own tools and carried them in a bag—sac in French—which they took away with them upon leaving. The term appears in Randle Cotgrave’s dictionary of 1611, under sac (“On luy a donné son sac—said of a servant whom his master hath put away”), and a similar term was used in Dutch as well. A newer synonym is to get/give the ax, which dates from the second half of the 1800s and alludes to the executioner’s ax. Both expressions also have been reduced to verbs meaning “to fire”: to sack someone (“I got sacked this morning”), or to ax someone/something (“The board axed the proposal for a new school building”).
See also: get, give
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- get the sack
- give somebody/get the sack
- give (one) the sack
- do a good job
- a good innings
- inning
- turnaround
- turnaround time
- set (one) up with (someone or something)
- set up