haversack: [18] Etymologically, a haversack is a ‘bag for oats’. The word comes via French havresac from German habersack, a compound formed from the now dialectal haber ‘oats’ and sack ‘bag’. This denoted originally a bag used in the army for feeding oats to horses, but by the time it reached English it had broadened out to a ‘bag for soldiers’ provisions’, carried over the shoulders (northern dialects of English, incidentally, had the term haver for ‘oats’, probably borrowed from Old Norse hafri, and related forms are still widespread among the Germanic languages, including German hafer, Dutch haver, and Swedish and Danish havre.
It has been speculated that the word is related to Latin caper and Old Norse hafr ‘goat’, in which case it would mean etymologically ‘goat’s food’).
haversack (n.)
1735, from French havresac (1670s), from Low German hafersach "cavalry trooper's bag for horse provender," literally "oat sack," from the common Germanic word for "oat" (see haver (n.1)) + sack (n.1).
实用例句
1. He got my haversack from the cab and dumped it at my feet.
他把我的背包从出租车上取来丢到我脚下。
来自柯林斯例句
2. He put two bottles of wine and half a cheese into his haversack.
他把两瓶酒和半个干酪装在粮袋里.
来自辞典例句
3. Do you think it would be dishonest if we went through his haversack?
