/ˈhɪt ðə ˈsæk/
English idiom, informal. To go to bed.
Draft Not yet checked by a native English speaker.
How do people use Hit the sack
?
Informal, used about yourself or the people you’re with when it’s time to sleep: “I’m going to hit the sack”, “let’s hit the sack”. It sounds relaxed and a bit tired, and it’s common in American and British English alike. In formal writing you’d just say “go to bed”.
Also said hit the hay
Hit the sack
in real sentences
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I need to hit the sack.
Tatoeba, sentence by Eldad, CC BY 2.0 FR
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It’s time to hit the sack.
Tatoeba, sentence by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Hit the sack
come from?
English Wiktionary’s earliest quote is a 1953 New York Times caption about tired soldiers, and the phrase sounds like American military slang of that time. “Sack” was already slang for a bed or bunk, probably from the old straw-filled sacks people slept on. Wiktionary’s note that farmers slept on sacks of hay is a guess, not a documented origin, and the older “hit the hay” may have been the model.
Mistakes learners make with Hit the sack
Learners sometimes use it for falling asleep somewhere else (“I hit the sack on the sofa”). It means going to bed on purpose, and “the sack” stays fixed: “hit a sack” or “hit my sack” sounds wrong.
Other English idioms like Hit the sack
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