haversack

H4A1V4E1R1S1A1C3K5
UK/ˈhævəsæk/

noun

A small, strong bag carried on the back or the shoulder, usually with only one strap, and originally made of canvas.

RareScrabble 21

Meanings

nounhaversack (plural haversacks)

plural haversacks

  1. A small, strong bag carried on the back or the shoulder, usually with only one strap, and originally made of canvas.

    When I went, I left from the station / With a haversack and some trepidation

    1990, Chris Lowe, Neil Tennant, “Being Boring”, performed by Pet Shop Boys
    1 more example

    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.

    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
  2. archaicAn oat-sack, or nosebag for a horse.

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna bag carried by a strap on your back or shoulder

Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. GermanHabersack
  2. Low GermanHaaversack
  3. Frenchhavresac
  4. Englishhaversack

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

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek γυλιός
  • γυλιός (guliós)shoulder bag
Bulgarian сухарна торба, мешка
  • сухарна торба (suharna torba)shoulder bag
  • мешка (meška)shoulder bag
Dutch haverzak
  • haverzakoat bag
Finnish olkareppu, kaurasäkki
  • olkareppushoulder bag
  • kaurasäkkioat bag
French havresac
  • havresacshoulder bag
German Brotbeutel, Hafersack
  • Brotbeutelshoulder bag
  • Hafersackoat bag
Greek ταγάρι
  • ταγάρι (tagári)shoulder bag
Hungarian tarisznya
  • tarisznyashoulder bag
Irish mála lóin
  • mála lóinshoulder bag
Polish chlebak
  • chlebakshoulder bag
Cite this entry
APA

haversack. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/haversack

MLA

“haversack.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/haversack. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “haversack,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/haversack.

Source: haversack on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.