colander
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of colander
1400–50; late Middle English colyndore, perhaps (with nasalization) < Old Provençal colador < Medieval Latin cōlātōrium, equivalent to Latin cōlā(re) “to strain” (verbal derivative of cōlum strainer) + -tōrium -tory 2
Compare meaning
How does colander compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Most cooks would agree that a colander is an essential piece of equipment for even the most basic kitchen. It's a bowl, usually made of plastic or metal, with holes in it to allow liquid to drain away from the food. Colanders are used for draining anything — for instance, if you're washing fruit, a colander would make the job quick and easy. If you're cooking pasta, you toss the pasta into a pot of boiling water, then when it's cooked, you pour the contents of the pot through a colander, and what's left behind in the colander, drained and ready to eat, is the pasta.
Vocabulary lists containing colander
Pestle, Sieve, and Whisk: Useful Words for Cooking Tools
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If You Come Softly
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Moon Over Manifest
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
No longer are we picking through clothing donations or wishing we had a colander or worrying about running out of time in short-term rentals.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 9, 2025
And the NHL’s most fearsome netminder suddenly looked as impenetrable as a colander.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2025
If you don't have access to eclipse glasses, you can create a simple pinhole camera with just two sheets of cardboard or even use a colander to project the Sun's image safely onto the ground.
From BBC • Mar. 28, 2025
Strain through a colander, saving ½ cup of the cooking liquid, then add the pasta to the saute pan, along with the reserved cooking liquid.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 9, 2024
When the timer went off for the pasta, I went for the colander, but Grandma stopped me.
From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks
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.
