haversack

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

haversack (plural haversacks)

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 A small, strong bag carried on the back or the shoulder, usually with only one strap, and originally made of canvas.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

     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.

   • 1990, Chris Lowe, Neil Tennant, “Being Boring”, performed by Pet Shop Boys:

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

2. (archaic) An oat-sack, or nosebag for a horse.

• backpack
• knapsack
• rucksack

• haversack on Wikipedia.Wikipedia