English Explanatory Dictionary

pail

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A vessel of wood, tin, plastic, etc., usually cylindrical and having a handle -- used especially for carrying liquids, for example water or milk; a bucket (sometimes with a cover).
  2. A closed (covered) cylindrical shipping container.

Pronunciation

/peɪl/ [pʰeɪ̯ɫ] [pʰeəɫ] pāl en-us-pail.ogg

Word forms

pail pails

Etymology

From Middle English payle (“bucket, pail, milking pail”), of an uncertain origin. Likely from Old English pæġel (“wine vessel, container for liquids, pail; a liquid measure”), from Proto-West Germanic *pagil, from Proto-Indo-European *bak- (“peg, club”), equivalent to peg + -le. Compare West Frisian pegel (“liquid measure, fourth of a litre, half-pint”), German Pegel (“level of liquid, level”), Middle Dutch pegel (“half-pint”), Danish pægl (“half-pint”). Doublet of peil. Alternatively from Old French paielle (“frying pan, warming pan; a liquid measure”), from Latin patella (“small pan, shallow dish, platter”), diminutive of patina (“broad shallow pan, stewpan”). Perhaps a conflation of both.

Synonyms

bucket

Derived words

diaper pail dry pail garbage pail hand in one's dinner pail ice-pail lunch pail lunch pail Democrat nappy pail pailful slop-pail swill-pail wet pail
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