knapsack

Etymology

From Low German knapzak or Dutch knapzak (older form cnapsack), from Middle Dutch cnappen (“to bite with teeth”), ultimately from knappen (“to eat, crack”), of imitative origin, + sack. German Knappsack is from Dutch.

noun

  1. (chiefly US) A case of canvas or leather, for carrying items on the back.
    The two elder reluctantly left him and walked on, taking their brother's knapsack to relieve him in following, and the youngest entered the field. 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 23
  2. (cryptography) A set of values from which a subset is chosen.

verb

  1. To go hiking while burdened with a knapsack, usually overnight or for longer.
    My sleeping bag fell off my backpack into the water, while we were knapsacking up the mountain.

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