sacked

1. 1
   verb

   Past tense and past participle of sack.

   The town was sacked twice during the war, and little of its old wealth survived.

   The quarterback was sacked on the final play of the game.

   Note

   The one spelling serves every meaning of sack, from fired to plundered to tackled, as both simple past and past participle. For losing a job the casual get-passive is common: she got sacked on Friday. Raiders sacked the town and the quarterback was sacked use the very same form, so the object and the setting show which meaning is in play.

2. 2
   adjectivecolloquialUK

   Dismissed from one's job by an employer.

   Several sacked civil servants are taking the ministry to a tribunal.

   The newly sacked chief executive refused to comment as he left the building.

   Similarfired, dismissed

   Note

   British English uses it most naturally in front of a noun, as in a sacked manager or the sacked workers. It suits conversation and casual news writing; in a formal letter or a legal document, dismissed is the safer word.

3. 3
   verbcolloquial

   Past tense and past participle of sac.

   Having sacked two pawns, White had a fierce attack on the king.

   The bishop was sacked on move fifteen to open up the long diagonal.

   Note

   Here the past belongs to sac, the gamer's clipped sacrifice, spelled the way it sounds. Because the same letters also make the past of sack, only the setting shows that a sacked bishop was given up on purpose for an advantage at the chessboard, not fired from a diocese or carried off as loot.

4. 4
   adjectiveslangAustralia

   Bothered enough to make an effort, usually in the negative, as in can't be sacked.

   After the night shift she couldn't be sacked to cook, so they got takeaway.

   If you can't be sacked to fill in the form properly, don't expect a refund.

   Similararsed

   Note

   Australian slang that lives almost entirely in the negative: can't be sacked, couldn't be sacked, often with to and a verb after it, as in couldn't be sacked to cook. It keeps company with can't be arsed and the ruder can't be fucked, so it belongs among friends. Take away the can't and the word turns back into the adjective for a fired worker.

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