Vial

//ˈvaɪəl// name, noun, verb

name, noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A glass or plastic vessel or bottle, especially a small tube-shaped bottle used to store medicine, perfume or other chemicals.

    "Take thou this vial, being then in bed, / And this distilled liquor drink thou off."

  2. 2
    a small bottle that contains a drug (especially a sealed sterile container for injection by needle) wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To keep or put (something, especially a liquid) in, or as if in, a vial (noun sense). transitive
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
phialampouleampouleampulampulebeaker

Example

More examples

"The year is 2038. The global government has declared gluten illegal. The last seeds of wheat sit in a freezer next to a vial of smallpox."

Etymology

From Middle English vial, viole, a variant of fiole, phiole, phial (“small bowl or cup for liquids, etc.; flask”) [and other forms]: see further at phial. Doublet of phiale.

Related phrases

Bologna vialscintillation vialacid insideglass containerglass tubeholding liquidsmall container

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.