bucket

/ˈbʌkət/

/ˈbʌkɪt/

Other forms: buckets; bucketing; bucketed

An open, round container with a handle is a bucket. You might take a bucket and shovel to the beach for making sand castles.

Buckets are usually made of metal or plastic, and are typically used to carry liquids. A dairy farmer might catch milk in a metal bucket, announcing at the end of the morning, "I got six buckets of milk!" The expression "to kick the bucket" means to die — this particular meaning might stem from the French buquet, "balance," a beam that was used for hanging slaughtered animals.

Definitions of bucket

1. noun

   a roughly cylindrical vessel that is open at the top
   synonyms: pail

   types:

   cannikin

   a wooden bucket

   dinner bucket, dinner pail

   a pail in which a workman carries his lunch or dinner

   dredging bucket

   a bucket for lifting material from a channel or riverbed

   kibble

   an iron bucket used for hoisting in wells or mining

   slop jar, slop pail

   a large pail used to receive waste water from a washbasin or chamber pot

   wine bucket, wine cooler

   a bucket of ice used to chill a bottle of wine

   clamshell, grapple

   a dredging bucket with hinges like the shell of a clam

   type of:

   vessel

   an object used as a container (especially for liquids)
2. noun

   the quantity contained in a bucket
   synonyms: bucketful

   type of:

   containerful

   the quantity that a container will hold
3. verb

   put into a bucket
   type of:

   lay, place, pose, position, put, set

   put into a certain place or abstract location
4. verb

   carry in a bucket
   type of:

   carry, transport

   move while supporting, either in a vehicle or in one's hands or on one's body