bucket

American  

[buhk-it] / ˈbʌk ɪt /

noun

1. a deep, cylindrical vessel, usually of metal, plastic, or wood, with a flat bottom and a semicircular bail, for collecting, carrying, or holding water, sand, fruit, etc.; pail.

2. anything resembling or suggesting this.

3. Machinery.

   1. any of the scoops attached to or forming the endless chain in certain types of conveyors or elevators.

   2. the scoop or clamshell of a steam shovel, power shovel, or dredge.

   3. a vane or blade of a waterwheel, paddle wheel, water turbine, or the like.

4. (in a dam) a concave surface at the foot of a spillway for deflecting the downward flow of water.

5. a bucketful.

   a bucket of sand.

6. Basketball.

   1. Informal. field goal.

   2. the part of the keyhole extending from the foul line to the end line.

7. bucket seat.

8. Bowling. a leave of the two, four, five, and eight pins, or the three, five, six, and nine pins.

---

verb (used with object)

bucketed, bucketing

1. to lift, carry, or handle in a bucket (often followed by up orout ).

2. Chiefly British. to ride (a horse) fast and without concern for tiring it.

3. to handle (orders, transactions, etc.) in or as if in a bucket shop.

verb (used without object)

bucketed, bucketing

1. Informal. to move or drive fast; hurry.

idioms

1. kick the bucket, to die.

   His children were greedily waiting for him to kick the bucket.

2. drop in the bucket, a small, usually inadequate amount in relation to what is needed or requested.

   The grant for research was just a drop in the bucket.

3. drop the bucket on, to implicate, incriminate, or expose.

bucket British  

/ ˈbʌkɪt /

noun

1. an open-topped roughly cylindrical container; pail

2. Also called: bucketful.  the amount a bucket will hold

3. any of various bucket-like parts of a machine, such as the scoop on a mechanical shovel

4. a cupped blade or bucket-like compartment on the outer circumference of a water wheel, paddle wheel, etc

5. computing a unit of storage on a direct-access device from which data can be retrieved

6. a turbine rotor blade

7. an ice cream container

8. slang to die

---

verb

1. (tr) to carry in or put into a bucket

2. (of rain) to fall very heavily

   it bucketed all day

3. to travel or drive fast

4. (tr) to ride (a horse) hard without consideration

5. slang (tr) to criticize severely

bucket More Idioms  

1. see drop in the bucket; kick the bucket; rain cats and dogs (buckets); weep buckets.

---

Regionalisms

Though both bucket and pail are used throughout the entire U.S., pail has its greatest use in the Northern U.S., and bucket is more commonly used elsewhere, especially in the Midland and Southern U.S.

Etymology

Origin of bucket

1250–1300; Middle English buket < Anglo-French < Old English bucc (variant of būc vessel, belly; cognate with German Bauch ) + Old French -et -et

Explanation

An open, round container with a handle is a bucket. You might take a bucket and shovel to the beach for making sand castles. Buckets are usually made of metal or plastic, and are typically used to carry liquids. A dairy farmer might catch milk in a metal bucket, announcing at the end of the morning, "I got six buckets of milk!" The expression "to kick the bucket" means to die — this particular meaning might stem from the French buquet, "balance," a beam that was used for hanging slaughtered animals.

Example Sentences

That’s a drop in the bucket compared with Musk, who holds External link 6.4 billion shares of SpaceX.

From Barron's • May 22, 2026

In December, he crossed a big item off his bucket list, sailing on an Antarctic cruise with Oceanwide Expeditions.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 17, 2026

We can make a difference by influencing each other—by not only contributing drops into the bucket, but by showing others that we’re doing so, and, in the process, influencing them to do the same.

From Slate • May 15, 2026

It makes no sense that they have led for the longest time despite having finances that are a mere spit in a bucket compared to Celtic's.

From BBC • May 14, 2026

Klenam whipped the blanket off, and Mawuli took away the bucket.

From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo

Related Words

• can
• canister
• cask
• kettle
• pail
• pot