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pail Definition

pail (pāl)

noun

  1. a more or less cylindrical container, usually with a hoop-shaped handle, for holding and carrying liquids, etc.; bucket
  2. the amount held by a pail

Etymology: ME paile < OE pægel, small measure, wine vessel < LL pagella (dim. of L pagina, page), a small page, in VL, a measure of area, later a measure of volume: infl. by OFr paele, a pan < L patella: see patella

pail Synonyms

pail

n.

pail Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • milk: The full and heavy pails of milk were more easily transported with the extra support from the yoke.
  • water: Use full strength in spray bottle or add two cups to a pail of warm water.

Preposition: into

insignificance: I'm delighted to be involved with them - my role pails into insignificance compared to what they do at sea.

Converse of object

  • fetch: Then, if you asked Jack to fetch a pail of water, he could figure out how to do it.
  • carry: Men who could be hired to carry pails of water up to the tenement flats were called caddies.
  • take: Uttering a few sounds with an air of melancholy, he took the pail from her head and bore it to the cottage himself.
  • have: I had only one pail of water for taking a bath.
  • fill: Twice a week we'd go up to the nearest farm to fill the milk pail or buy another sack of potatoes.
  • milk: The point of the cartoon is the lawyer under the cow with his milking pail!

Adjective modifier

  • empty: Dirty water or empty pails were commonly punished by pinching or lameness.
  • old: Last spring a friend of ours discovered one inside an old pail, which was lying upside down in a corner of his garden.
  • full: I usually had to make two trips, as I couldn't manage to carry a full pail.
  • wooden: Beside these were long rows of wooden pails and dairy utensils, with shining ranks of tinware and pewter platters and pots.
  • small: There was a bucket full of water, and a small pail.

Noun used with modifier

  • garbage: I have some garbage pail kids cards still somewhere, I'm sure.
  • dinner: To go west means to hop the twig, pop one's clog, hand in one's dinner pail, and so on.
  • milk: Twice a week we'd go up to the nearest farm to fill the milk pail or buy another sack of potatoes.
  • slop: I even managed to empty the slop pail in the food tunnel.
  • lunch: You would not ask for a kiss good-bye, or an extra napkin in your lunch pail.
  • water: The right-hand carving appears to show someone carrying what look like water pails.