phial en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /faɪl/ (General-American)
- /ˈfaɪəl/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /ˈfaɪəl/ (General-American)
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
The noun is derived partly: * from Middle English fiole, phiole, phial (“small bowl or cup for liquids, etc.; flask”) [and other forms], from Middle French fiole, phiole [and other forms], and Old French fiole (modern French fiole), from Late Latin fiola, phiola, from Latin phiala (“broad, flat, shallow bowl or cup”), from Ancient Greek φιάλη (phiálē, “round and shallow bowl, pan, or saucer”), probably from Pre-Greek; and * directly from Latin phiala (see above). The verb is derived from the noun. Doublet of vial. Cognates * Catalan fiola * French fiole * Italian fiala * Old Occitan fiola (Occitan fiòla)
Meanings
-
(dated) A bottle or other vessel for containing a liquid; originally any such vessel, especially one for holding a beverage; now (specifically), a small, narrow glass bottle with a cap used to hold liquid chemicals, medicines, etc.
And I heard a great voyce out of the Temple, ſaying to the ſeven Angels, Goe your wayes, and powre out the vials of the wrath of God vpõ the earth.
The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, →OCLC, Revelation 16:1, column 2:And when he had taken the booke, the foure Beaſts, and foure and twenty Elders fel down before the Lambe, hauing euery one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of Saints.
The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, →OCLC, Revelation 5:8, column 1:You must open the middle drawer of my toilet-table and take out a little phial and a little glass you will find there,—quick! […] He held out the tiny glass, and I half filled it from the water bottle on the wash-stand. / “That will do:—now wet the lip of the phial.” / I did so: he measured twelve drops of a crimson liquid, and presented it to Mason. / “Drink, Richard: it will give you the heart you lack, for an hour or so.”
1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter V, in Jane Eyre. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 127:She held up a small crystal phial: it glittered as she moved it, and rays of white light sprang from her hand.
1954 July 29, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “Farewell to Lórien”, in The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published September 1973, →ISBN, page 487:He sat musing for a little with the phial in his hand, looking at the clear liquid within.
1923 March, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Creeping Man”, in The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, published June 1927, →OCLC, page 233:Thou still, upon the broad vine-sheltered path, / Mayst wait the turning of the phials of wrath / For certain years, for certain months and days.
1881, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “‘Retro Me, Sathana!’”, in Ballads and Sonnets, London: Ellis and White, […], →OCLC, page 252:In testimony of the affection of the American people, of their confidence in your [Marie Curie's] scientific work, and of their earnest wish that your genius and energy may receive all encouragement to carry forward your efforts for the advance of science and conquest of disease, I have been commissioned to present to you this little phial of radium.
1921 May 20, [Warren Harding], Remarks of the President in Presenting to Madam Curie a Gift of Radium from the American People […], Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 4:AA Is a glaſs phial filled vvith mercury to the ſuperficies DD, or thereabout.
1682, Robert Boyle, “A Continuation of New Experiments Physico-Mechanical, Touching the Spring and Weight of the Air, and Their Effects. The Second Part. […]. Iconisme III. How Factitious Air may be Transmitted out of One Receiver into Another.”, in The Works of the Honourable Robert Boyle. […], volume IV, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], published 1744, →OCLC, page 103, column 2:VVo to you that are rich in Sion, and haue confidence in the mountaine of Samaria: […] That drinke vvine in phials, and are annoynted vvith the beſt oyntment: and they ſuffred nothing vpon the contrition of Ioſeph.
1610, The Second Tome of the Holie Bible, […] (Douay–Rheims Bible), Doway: Laurence Kellam, […], →OCLC, Amos 6:1 and 6, pages 835–836:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| phials | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Coordinates
Deriveds
phialful · Leyden phial · phialiform · phialed · vial · Bologna phial · phialine