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pail

pail

26 1.0
A round container with a handle used to carry water or other things
  • noun
  • /peɪl/
translation icon : balde
  • A night janitor with a pail on wheels and a mop moves past darkened offices.
  • pail of water
  • garbage pail
  • lunch pail

Jack and Jill to fetch a pail of water.

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Examples

  • Residents also receive a green, two-gallon kitchen pail for food scraps and paper.

    Academic text (1999)
  • The six-year-old boy came trudging across the patio, lugging the heavy wooden pail of water.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • Garbage goes right in my pail, Charles.

  • We just made sure that the staff used one pail for food waste and one for trash.

    Academic text (1995)
  • I'll just put my pail in the workshop.

  • And fish guts you gotta wrap and place in the covered pail next to the cleaning station.

  • You can leave the pail outside, mrs. Callahan.

  • We've got a big garbage pail because we figure that makes sense.

  • I rinsed out the sour milk container in a pail of water and poured that into their water trough.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • The gardener filled the pail with fresh water to hydrate the plants.

Synonyms

bucket
vspail
207 1.0

A round open container with a handle for carrying water or other things

is usually metal or plastic and has higher sides than the general container

Compounds

3 2.5

A box with a handle for carrying lunch to work or school

5.9

A small metal container workers use to carry lunch to work

slop pail
  • Archaic
9.6

A large bucket for collecting dirty water from a sink or chamber pot

How Big

barrel
164 1.0
tub
95 1.0
pail
26 1.0
bowl
370 1.0
cup
846 1.0

Surface Forms

pail singular
pails plural

Etymology

Pail comes from an old word for a small tub or basket, so picture a round bucket with high sides and a handle that you carry to fetch water or sand. That's why pail means the bucket itself.