Dictionary

pail en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• [pʰeəɫ] (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
• pāl (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
• (US) audio
• /peɪl/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
• [pʰeɪ̯ɫ] (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Middle English payle (“bucket, pail, milking pail”), of uncertain origin. Likely from Old English pæġel (“wine vessel, container for liquids, pail; a liquid measure”), from Proto-West Germanic *pagil, from Proto-Indo-European *bak- (“peg, club”), equivalent to peg + -le. Compare West Frisian pegel (“liquid measure, fourth of a litre, half-pint”), German Pegel (“level of liquid, level”), Middle Dutch pegel (“half-pint”), Danish pægl (“half-pint”). Doublet of peil. Alternatively from Old French paielle (“frying pan, warming pan; a liquid measure”), from Latin patella (“small pan, shallow dish, platter”), diminutive of patina (“broad shallow pan, stewpan”). Perhaps a conflation of both.

Meanings

1. A vessel of wood, tin, plastic, etc., usually cylindrical and having a handle -- used especially for carrying liquids, for example water or milk; a bucket (sometimes with a cover).
   • Jack and Jill Went up the hill. To fetch a pail of water, Jack fell down, And broke his crown, And Jill came tumbling after. 1810, Jack and Jill, and old Dame Gill, York: J. Kendrew:
   • The milkmaid carried a pail of milk in each hand.
2. (in technical use) A closed (covered) cylindrical shipping container.

Forms

Deriveds

wet pail · nappy pail · diaper pail · ice-pail · lunch pail Democrat · swill-pail · dry pail · garbage pail · pailful · slop-pail · lunch pail · hand in one's dinner pail

Descendants

pil

Synonyms

bucket