Pail
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 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).
"The milkmaid carried a pail of milk in each hand."
- 2 a roughly cylindrical vessel that is open at the top wordnet
- 3 A closed (covered) cylindrical shipping container.
- 4 the quantity contained in a pail wordnet
Example
More examples"He was a pitiable spectacle of neglect and wretchedness as he sat there on an upturned pail, eating his bread and cheese with fingers that, like his clothing, were grimed with paint and dirt."
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.
Related phrases
More for "pail"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.