PAIL

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does pail mean? 

• PAIL (noun)
  The noun PAIL has 2 senses:

1. a roughly cylindrical vessel that is open at the top

2. the quantity contained in a pail

  Familiarity information: PAIL used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PAIL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A roughly cylindrical vessel that is open at the top

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

bucket; pail

Hypernyms ("pail" is a kind of...):

vessel (an object used as a container (especially for liquids))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pail"):

cannikin (a wooden bucket)

dinner bucket; dinner pail (a pail in which a workman carries his lunch or dinner)

dredging bucket (a bucket for lifting material from a channel or riverbed)

kibble (an iron bucket used for hoisting in wells or mining)

slop jar; slop pail (a large pail used to receive waste water from a washbasin or chamber pot)

wine bucket; wine cooler (a bucket of ice used to chill a bottle of wine)

Holonyms ("pail" is a part of...):

water wheel; waterwheel (a wheel that rotates by direct action of water; a simple turbine)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quantity contained in a pail

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

pail; pailful

Hypernyms ("pail" is a kind of...):

containerful (the quantity that a container will hold)

 Context examples 

The pails were already skinned over with young ice when he picked them up and made for the cabin.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

From under the sink he drew a zinc pail which contained a quantity of blood.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I lost sight of her, and in about a quarter of an hour she returned bearing the pail, which was now partly filled with milk.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The bird hastened to fetch some water, but his pail fell into the well, and he after it, and as he was unable to recover himself, he was drowned.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

She gave some to Toto, and taking a pail from the shelf she carried it down to the little brook and filled it with clear, sparkling water.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

A poor woman came in with a pail and a mop, and asked Mr. Cutter if he would let her do some scrubbing for a bit of fish, because she hadn't any dinner for her children, and had been disappointed of a day's work.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Another time, one of the servants, whose office it was to fill my trough every third day with fresh water, was so careless as to let a huge frog (not perceiving it) slip out of his pail.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Messner broke the skin that had formed on the water-hole within the hour, and filled his pails.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Uttering a few sounds with an air of melancholy, he took the pail from her head and bore it to the cottage himself.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The torn bird, the pail of blood, the charred bones, all the mystery of that weird kitchen?

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)