a large container, as a tub or tank, used for storing or holding liquids.
a wine vat.
Chemistry.
a preparation containing an insoluble dye converted by reduction into a soluble leuco base.
a vessel containing such a preparation.
a large container for holding or storing liquids
chem a preparation of reduced vat dye
before 1100; Middle English (south); Old English fæt vessel; cognate with Old Norse fat vessel, German Fass keg
A vat is a big container for holding liquids. If you're having a big party, your mom may get you to help cook a vat of spaghetti sauce to feed all your hungry relatives. Remember that vat has a short a sound; it rhymes with cat, hat, and sat. Vats are not always food-related. People who make pottery, for example, keep vats of glazes in which they dip their vases and cups in order to color them. No matter what a vat contains, it's often heavy and hard to move.
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Vat photopolymerization is a type of 3D printing that involves pouring a light-reactive liquid resin into a container and then solidifying specific areas with a laser or ultraviolet light to create a shape.
From Science Daily • Oct. 9, 2025
Vat pasteurizers, also known as batch pasteurizers, often are used by smaller-scale processors who handle limited volumes.
From Salon • May 20, 2024
In addition to her son Scott, she is survived by another son, Aron Rorex, and a daughter, Linda Vat.
From New York Times • Jun. 20, 2022
The clips appear to be from a YouTube video posted on Jan. 30 to the account "Brain in a Vat," which publishes "thought experiments and discussions with philosophers."
From Fox News • Feb. 2, 2022
Vat for dat big order not delivered, and vone of mein goot customers dat leaves me much moneys?
From The Misfit Christmas Puddings by Consolation, Club
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
