Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SACK, v.t.² [Arm. sacqa; Ir. sacham, to attack; Sp. and Port. saquear, to plunder or pillage; Sp. to ransack; Sp. and Port. sacar, to pull out, extort, dispossess; It. saccheggiare, to sack; Fr. saccager, to pillage; saccade, a jerk, a sudden pull. From comparing this word and sack, a bag, in several languages, it appears that they are both from one root, and that the primary sense is to strain, pull, draw; hence sack, a bag, is a tie, that which is tied up or drawn together; and sack, to pillage, is to pull, to strip, that is, to take away by violence. See Class Sg, No. 5, 15, 16, 18, 30, 74, 77, &c.]

To plunder or pillage, as a town or city. Rome was twice taken and sacked in the reign of one pope. This word is never, I believe, applied to the robbing of persons, or pillaging of single houses, but to the pillaging of towns and cities; and as towns are usually or often sacked, when taken by assault, the word may sometimes include the sense of taking by storm. The Romans lay under the apprehension of seeing their city sacked by a barbarous enemy. – Addison.