Bidon
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A bottle or flask for holding a beverage such as water or wine; (specifically, sports) a water bottle which can be squeezed to squirt the beverage out of the nozzle, especially (cycling) one designed for mounting on a bicycle.
"I was awakened by a noise of eating. My protectors, knife in hand, were consuming their meat and bread, occasionally tilting their bidons on high and absorbing the thin streams which spurted therefrom. […] The older [man] appeared pleased with my appetite; his face softened still more, as he remarked: "Bread without wine doesn't taste good," and proffered his bidon. I drank as much as I dared, and thanked him: "Ça va mieux.""
- 2 A container for holding a liquid.; A cup made of wood. archaic
"["]Take a draught of my burgundy; bright as rubies. I never sell bad wines;—not I!—I know better than to drink them myself." He started and rose; and before he took the bidon [footnote †: “Little wooden drinking-cup.”], bowed to her, raising his cap with a grave courteous obeisance; a bow that had used to be noted in throne-rooms for its perfection of grace."
- 3 A container for holding a liquid.; An oil drum; a petrol can. archaic
"I saw that she had picked up an empty oil bidon that had been lying in the corner. I had bought it weeks before, for an oil lamp I had before I sold my things. […] They always make you pay a deposit on the bidon, and you get it back when the bidon is returned. But I'd forgotten all about it. […] She grabbed the bidon and went clattering down the stairs like a herd of elephants, and in three minutes she was back with two pounds of bread under one arm and a half-litre bottle of wine under the other."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"I was awakened by a noise of eating. My protectors, knife in hand, were consuming their meat and bread, occasionally tilting their bidons on high and absorbing the thin streams which spurted therefrom. […] The older [man] appeared pleased with my appetite; his face softened still more, as he remarked: "Bread without wine doesn't taste good," and proffered his bidon. I drank as much as I dared, and thanked him: "Ça va mieux.""
Etymology
Borrowed from French bidon (“can, canister, tin”), from Middle French bidon (“small sealed portable container made of metal or wood”), from Old Norse *biða (“container, vessel”), from Proto-Germanic *bidōn, *bidjan (“tub, vat; vessel”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰidʰ- (“barrel; bucket; pot”), from *bʰeydʰ- (“to bind; to weave”).
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.