vessel

See also: vessél

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English vessel, vessell, from Old French vaissel (compare modern French vaisseau and Catalan vaixell), from Late Latin vāscellum, diminutive of vāsculum, diminutive of vās (“vase, vessel”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈvɛs.əl/, /ˈvɛs.l̩/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛsəl

Noun

vessel (plural vessels)

  1. (nautical) Any craft designed for transportation on water, such as a ship or boat. [From c.1300]
    Hyponyms: ship, boat, barge, raft, canoe, kayak
    • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:
      But my hope was, that if I stood along this coast till I came to that part where the English traded, I should find some of their vessels upon their usual design of trade, that would relieve and take us in.
    • 1873, Jules Verne, chapter I, in [anonymous], transl., Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas; […], James R. Osgood edition, Boston, Mass.: Geo[rge] M[urray] Smith & Co., →OCLC, part I, page 3:
      Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels, skippers, […] naval officers of all countries, and the Governments of several states on the two continents, were deeply interested in the matter.
    • 1905, H. G. Wells, The Empire of the Ants:
      He saw now clearly that the sole crew of the vessel was these two dead men, and though he could not see their faces, he saw by their outstretched hands, which were all of ragged flesh, that they had been subjected to some strange exceptional process of decay.
    • 2012 March, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, page 87:
      Conditions were horrendous aboard most British naval vessels at the time. Scurvy and other diseases ran rampant, killing more seamen each year than all other causes combined, including combat.
  2. A craft designed for transportation through air or space. [From 1915]
    Hyponyms: spaceship, ship
    • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Quarians Codex entry:
      Driven from their home system by the geth nearly three centuries ago, most quarians now live aboard the Migrant Fleet, a flotilla of fifty thousand vessels ranging in size from passenger shuttles to mobile space stations.
  3. (uncountable, obsolete or dialectal) Dishes and cutlery collectively, especially if made of precious metals. [c.1300–c.1600]
    • 1523, John Bourchier, translated by Jean Froissart, Here begynneth the first volum of sir Iohan Froyssart : of the cronycles of Englande, Fraunce, Spayne, Portyngale, Scotlande, Bretayne, Flauders: and other places adioynynge.:
      All his Vessell was of golde and siluer, pottis, basons, ewers, dysshes, flagons, barels, cuppes, and all other thyngis.
  4. A container of liquid or other substance, such as a glass, goblet, cup, bottle, bowl, or pitcher. [From c.1300]
  5. A person as a container of qualities or feelings. [From 1382]
    A teacher should be a vessel of knowledge.
  6. (biology) A tube or canal that carries fluid in an animal or plant. [From 1398]
    Hyponyms: blood vessel, lymph vessel
    Blood and lymph vessels are found in humans; xylem and phloem vessels are found in plants.

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

vessel (third-person singular simple present vessels, present participle vesselling or (US) vesseling, simple past and past participle vesselled or (US) vesseled)

  1. (transitive) To put into a vessel.
    • 1577, William Harrison, The Description of England in Holinshed’s Chronicles, Volume 1, Book 3, Chapter 12 “Of venemous beastes &c.,”
      Our hony alſo is taken and reputed to be the beſt bycauſe it is harder, better wrought & clenlyer veſſelled vp, thẽ that which cõmeth from beyond the ſea, where they ſtampe and ſtraine their combes, Bées, & young Blow|inges altogither into the ſtuffe, as I haue béene informed.
    • 1627, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum: or, A Naturall Historie, London: W. Lee, Cent. VI, section 529, p. 137,
      The fourth Rule ſhall be, to marke what Herbs, ſome Earths doe put fourth of themſelves; And to take that Earth, and to Pot it, or to Veſſell it; And in that to ſet the Seed you would change […]
    • 1662, John Heydon, The Harmony of the World‎, London: Robert Horn, Epistle Dedicatory:
      Man had at the firſt, and ſo have all ſouls before their entrance into the body, an explicite methodicall knowledge, but they are no ſooner veſſel’d, but that liberty is loſt, and nothing remains but a vaſt confuſed notion of the creature […]
    • 2009, Reaper (TV series), 2nd season, episode known as The Home Stretch:
      [Samuel 'Sam' Oliver:] Alright (or: All right), so the Devil didn't say that the winner was the one who vesseled (or: vesselled) him, just the one who sends him back to hell.

References
  • “vessel” in the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, 1974 edition.

Anagrams

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French vaissel, vessel, from Late Latin vāscellum.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈvɛsɛl/, /ˈvɛsəl/

Noun

vessel (plural vessels or vessel)

  1. A container or vessel; a box for storage:
    1. A vessel; any open container used in the kitchen:
      1. (by extension) A decorative container; a vase used for adornment.
      2. (by extension) A piece of cookware; a container used for cooking.
      3. (by extension) Any sort of kitchen tool or utensil.
    2. A container used for the storage of medicines; a pharmaceutical container.
    3. Any object, especially a container, used in religious ceremonies or rituals.
    4. A large container or vat used for bulk storage.
    5. (alchemy) Alchemical equipment, ware, or tools.
    6. Traveling equipment; travel gear.
  2. In several anatomical senses:
    1. (figurative) A human being or the body of a human being.
    2. Blood vessels; the tubes that blood travels in.
    3. Any sort of tube, duct or canal in the body (e.g. the intestines)
    4. (figurative, rare) The heart (as the seat of feelings).
  3. A seafaring vessel; a boat or ship.
  4. (mainly Biblical) A machine, device, or method.

Derived terms

Descendants
  • English: vessel
  • Scots: veshel
  • Yola: veseal

References
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