vessel

[ ves-uhl ]

noun

1. a craft for traveling on water, now usually one larger than an ordinary rowboat; a ship or boat.
2. an airship.
3. a hollow or concave utensil, as a cup, bowl, pitcher, or vase, used for holding liquids or other contents.
4. Anatomy, Zoology. a tube or duct, as an artery or vein, containing or conveying blood or some other body fluid.
5. Botany. a duct formed in the xylem, composed of connected cells that have lost their intervening partitions, that conducts water and mineral nutrients. Compare tracheid.
6. a person regarded as a holder or receiver of something, especially something nonmaterial:

   a vessel of grace;

   a vessel of wrath.

vessel

/ ˈvɛsəl /

noun

1. any object used as a container, esp for a liquid
2. a passenger or freight-carrying ship, boat, etc
3. an aircraft, esp an airship
4. anatomy a tubular structure that transports such body fluids as blood and lymph
5. botany a tubular element of xylem tissue consisting of a row of cells in which the connecting cell walls have broken down
6. rare.
   a person regarded as an agent or vehicle for some purpose or quality

   she was the vessel of the Lord

vessel

/ vĕs′əl /

1. A blood vessel.
2. A long, continuous column made of the lignified walls of dead vessel elements, along which water flows in the xylem of angiosperms.

Other Words From

• vesseled especially British, vesselled adjective
• un·vesseled adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of vessel¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Anglo-French, Old French va(i)ssel, vessel, from Latin vāscellum, from vās “vessel” ( vase ) + -cellum, diminutive suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of vessel¹

C13: from Old French vaissel, from Late Latin vascellum urn, from Latin vās vessel

Example Sentences

In CDC-speak, the problem is filed under the vessel sanitation program (VSP).

From The Daily Beast

It turns out that a rising tide lifts all boats, including the rather leaky vessel carrying Kansas Republicans.

From The Daily Beast

The tests in the study assumed that the ship would displace about 9690-tons; the Zumwalt is a 15,500-ton vessel.

From The Daily Beast

Local mechanics pitched in to help mend the craft, but weeks into setting off the repairs wore thin and the vessel sprung a leak.

From The Daily Beast

Within a matter of hours, the vessel that Mooney had crafted began to sink.

From The Daily Beast

This vessel, loaded with supplies, went ashore and was lost; and one hundred and twenty Japanese and three Dutchmen were drowned.

From Project Gutenberg

The noise of the hammer is always in his ears, and his eye is upon the pattern of the vessel he maketh.

From Project Gutenberg

The vessel escaped miraculously, with sails torn by shots from three Dutch vessels, which they took for one of their own.

From Project Gutenberg

At one fell swoop on the field of Jena, the famed military monarchy of the great Frederick fell in pieces like a potter's vessel.

From Project Gutenberg

The American losses were seven men wounded, none killed, and only slight damage to one vessel.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• barge
• boat
• craft
• liner
• ocean liner
• tanker