haversack

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English

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haversack with two straps

Etymology

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From French havresac, from Low German Haaversack and/or German Habersack, Hafersack (literally oat-sack), from Hafer + Sack. Compare also Dutch haverzak.

Noun

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haversack (plural haversacks)

  1. A small, strong bag carried on the back or the shoulder, usually with only one strap, and originally made of canvas.
    • 1968, Edward Abbey, “Polemic: Industrial Tourism and the National Parks”, in Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness, McGraw-Hill; republished New York: Touchstone, 1968, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 49:
      And most significant, these hordes of nonmotorized tourists, hungry for a taste of the difficult, the original, the real, do not consist solely of people young and athletic but also of old folks, fat folks, pale-faced office clerks who don’t know a rucksack from a haversack, and even children.
  2. (archaic) An oat-sack, or nosebag for a horse.

Translations

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See also

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Further reading

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