gunny sack
1
6.7
- noun
- /ˈɡʌni sæk/
- US
:
saco de yute
- He tosses in the empty gunny sacks.
- holding a gunny sack
Examples
-
Then Lee held open the gunny sack, and Paul turned the net over and shook it, and the crab fell in.
Fiction book (1998) -
Barbie dropped the wet gunny sack she was holding and backed slowly away from the barrel, looking at it with horror.
Fiction book (1992) -
My father opened the trunk and pulled out a gunny sack full of tools.
Fiction book (1992) -
Mo frowns a little, then reaches down into his gunny sack.
Fiction book (1990) -
He held the gunny sack in one hand and a hatchet in the other.
Fiction book (1992) -
The vehicle was filled with many barrels covered with wet gunny sacks, held in place by staves.
Fiction book (1992) -
He slid the mouth of the gunny sack under the turtle's body.
Fiction book (1992) -
At the Mairie, Amedee Douarnez's wheelbarrow, lined with gunny sacks, was parked near the door.
Fiction book (1993) -
He folded one of the empty gunny sacks for the crabs and used it like a mitt to lift the cat carefully, holding it along its back so it couldn't bite or claw him.
Fiction book (1997) -
The farmer filled a large gunny sack with potatoes for the market.
Synonyms
3
7.4
A large bag made of rough cloth used for carrying or storing things like potatoes
2
3.2
A bag made from rough cloth used to carry or store things
How Strong
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'gunny' names a coarse burlap-like material and 'sack' is a large bag, so 'gunny sack' straightforwardly denotes a sack made from gunny. Although 'gunny' is somewhat less frequent, a B1 learner who knows both constituents can predict the compound meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
Gunny sack may come from an old South Asian word 'goni' for rough cloth. People made heavy woven bags from that cloth, with gunny meaning the cloth and sack meaning the bag, so the phrase now means 'a large bag for carrying goods'.