Other forms: beakers
A beaker is a glass container with a flat bottom that scientists use to hold liquids. In cartoons, mad scientists sometimes cackle gleefully while pouring bubbling chemicals into beakers.
In Britain, a beaker is a drinking cup mainly used by children, but in the U.S. the word is primarily used to mean a cylindrical glass vessel for mixing, measuring, and pouring liquid chemicals. Along with things like Bunsen burners and test tubes, a well-stocked chemistry lab has plenty of beakers. The word comes from the Greek root bikos, "earthenware jug."