English Idiom – “Hit the hay.” Hay is the kind of dry grass that horses like to eat. In olden days, beds were stuffed with hay, so when we say “hit the hay,” it means “go to sleep.”
- It’s 1:00am! Time to hit the hay.
- I need to hit the hay early tonight because I have to leave the house early in the morning.
This idiom has the same meaning as “hit the sack.” “Hit the sack” also means “go to sleep.” A sack is a kind of bag and many many years ago it was used to hold rice or beans. So pillows in those days were basically those sacks filled with something soft. So “hit the sack” means, “hit the pillow,” or more simply, “hit the sack” means “go to sleep.”