Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 February 1905 — TO GET THE “SACK.” [ARTICLE]

TO GET THE “SACK.”

It. Equivalent In Olden Times Wa* to Get the “Canvas.” Canvas, called by Chaucer canevas. is a closely woven heavy cloth of hemp or flax, used for any purpose for which strength and durability are required, such as sailcloth or fabrics used for oil paintings, tapestry or embroidery. Its name is derived from the Latin eanuabis, hemp, the material from which it is manufactured. “To give one the canvas,” or “to receive the canvas,” was the old phrase equivalent to the modern “to give one the sack,” or “to get the sack,” in allusion to the canvas tool bags carried by mechanics of that day. In such a phrase as “to canvass the neighborhood,” the word canvass, in which the “s” is doubled, comes from the French canahasser, to sift as through canvas, and literally means to sift the neighborhood, to solicit votes or interest, by separating supporters from opponents.