punch bowl
- noun
- /pʌnʧ boʊl/
- She ladled the delicious mixture into the punch bowl for everyone to enjoy.
- punch bowl and a ladle
- silver punch bowl
- glass punch bowl
Why have a mirror ball and a punch bowl when you can just have the mirror punch bowl?
- Why have a mirror ball and a punch bowl when you can just have the mirror punch bowl?
Examples
-
Get me to the punch bowl, Mother.
-
Granny brings people cups of steaming punch from a punch bowl.
Fiction book (1991) -
Can you put it where the kids had their punch bowl?
-
You were by the punch bowl.
-
The camera fell in the punch bowl.
-
There is a long buffet table and a punch bowl.
Fiction book (1993) -
Tom followed Michael and Lisa over to the punch bowl.
Fiction book (1998) -
The room was crowded with people, and at both ends of it stood a table with a punch bowl and cookies on it.
Fiction book (1998) -
Zeke went over to the punch bowl to get a drink.
Fiction book (2001) -
Nicole and Kimberly stand by the punch bowl, chatting.
Fiction book (1992)
Synonyms
A round deep dish with an open top used to hold food or liquid
A large bowl for serving drinks like punch or ale
A large silver bowl with a notched rim used to cool glasses or serve punch
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a large bowl used to serve punch' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'punch' (the drink) with 'bowl' (a container). This straightforward noun+noun composition follows common compounding patterns in English (and equivalents exist in many languages), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily understand it.
Etymology
Punch bowl comes from the simple picture of a large bowl holding punch, the shared drink at parties. Because people ladled and drank from the same bowl, the name now means 'a large, deep bowl used for serving drinks'.