Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
dinner bucket

dinner bucket

6.8
A container that workers use to carry their lunch or dinner to work
  • noun
  • Archaic
translation icon : pail de comida
  • The construction workers packed their dinner bucket with sandwiches and fruit before heading to the site.

Examples

  • I expect you know there was another reason for taking two dinner buckets to the Badger.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • We were carrying one dinner bucket, and May Anna had the other.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Pop picked up a chunk or two of high-grade ore in the morning, then slipped it into the dinner bucket before we left.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Each employee brought a dinner bucket filled with homemade meals to the job to save money.

  • After a long day, he opened his dinner bucket to enjoy the pasta his wife made for him.

Synonyms

pail
vsdinner bucket
26 1.0

A round container with a handle used to carry water or other things

is specifically a worker's meal container for taking food to a job site
lunchbox
vsdinner bucket
15 1.0

A container for carrying food to eat at work or school

is usually a handled container used by workers to carry meals to job sites
lunch pail
vsdinner bucket
  • US
3 2.5

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

is mainly used by workers to take meals to a job site
dinner pail
vsdinner bucket
  • US
5.9

A small metal container workers use to carry lunch to work

is the same in use but uses a different common name for the container
tucker-bag
vsdinner bucket
  • Archaic
9.9

A bag for carrying food used by travellers or workers

is a handled rigid worker meal container rather than a soft regional bag

How Insulated

cooler
  • US
14 2.0
lunchbox
15 1.0
dinner bucket
  • Archaic
6.8
paper bag
42 1.0

Surface Forms

dinner bucket singular
dinner buckets plural

Morphology

dinner + bucket

This is a straightforward noun-noun compound whose meaning — a bucket/container used for carrying dinner — is directly built from 'dinner' + 'bucket'. The compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows normal English compounding, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the intended meaning.

Etymology

The noun dinner bucket comes from a simple, real picture: a worker carrying a metal bucket with their dinner to work. That's why it means 'a pail used by a worker to carry their lunch or dinner'.