Mason jar
- noun
- /ˈmeɪsən dʒɑr/
- US
- She stored her homemade jam in several Mason jars to keep it airtight.
- fill the Mason jar
- quart-size Mason jar
- small Mason jar
I mean, that's half a small Mason jar full of garlic powder.
- I mean, that's half a small Mason jar full of garlic powder.
- Why did you push a Mason jar off the fridge and scare Marcus?
- So we need a video of you farting in the Mason jar to prove it's real.
- So we had this door adorable little girl take a bunch of Mason jars.
- Oh, I I just that people bring me little Mason jars of their home concoctions that are going to cure me.
- And Baggies, Ziploc Baggies and Mason jars only last so long before it becomes like, OK, all right, I need an intervention.
- Because look, Stephanie, so this Mason jar is as big as my half gallon of almond milk.
Examples
-
The recipe calls for sealing the pickles in a Mason jar to preserve their freshness.
-
As he began his inventory of ancient Mason jars, he found at the end of a shelf a box wrapped in newspaper tied with grocer's twine.
Fiction book (2002) -
When she was little, she would always capture the poor things in a Mason jar and set them free outdoors.
Fiction book (1998) -
So we put them in the Mason jars because they seal.
-
Then I'd climb up on the footstool and grab the Mason jar.
Fiction book (2001) -
She cut lilacs and kept them in a Mason jar on her nightstand.
Fiction book (1996) -
One day in late spring, Mrs. Thayer walked into class after the bell rang and placed a Mason jar of jonquils on her desk.
Fiction book (1998) -
Jacob stood leaning against the rusty-topped deep freezer drinking lime Kool-Aid from a Mason jar.
Fiction book (1998) -
Everything else was left behind: piles of old clothes, a root cellar full of empty Mason jars, strings of peppers tied to the rafters.
Blog text (15) -
Please prepare the ingredients and place them in a clean Mason jar for storage.
Synonyms
A wide glass or clay container for storing food
A thick clay pot used to store food or drink
A jar made of baked clay used for storing food or liquids
A small glass jar for keeping jam or jelly
A small jar for jam or fruit preserves
How Airtight
Surface Forms
Morphology
Mason + jar
The word 'jar' clearly signals a container, so learners who know 'jar' will recognize it's a type of jar, but 'Mason' is a proper name/brand (not the occupational meaning 'mason') and does not transparently indicate the screw-top, air‑tight canning function. Because the key functional meaning (airtight screw lid for preserving) is not predictable from the constituents, the expression is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Mason jar is named after John Landis Mason, who invented a glass jar with a screw-top lid that made an airtight seal. Imagine turning the lid to lock the air out so the food stays fresh, and that is why a Mason jar is used 'to preserve' or 'to keep food fresh'.