pail
Americannoun
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a bucket, esp one made of wood or metal
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Also called: pailful. the quantity that fills a pail
Regionalisms
See bucket.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pail
First recorded before 1000; Middle English payle “wooden container,” continuing Old English pægel “wine container, liquid measure” (of unknown origin; compare Middle Dutch, Low German pegel “half pint”), by association with Old French paielle “pan,” from Latin patella; see patella
Explanation
A pail is a round, open container with a handle. At the beach, you can use a pail to carry water and sand, and also to mold the towers of your sandcastle. You can also call a pail a bucket — although pail implies a smaller container, exactly the sort a child would use, along with a small shovel, when playing in a sandbox. You might also use a pail to catch drips from a leaky ceiling, or pour a small amount of paint into a pail when you're touching up the trim in your bedroom. This word comes from the Old French paelle, "cooking or frying pan."
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.
See Examples For:
The simplicity of a brain plopped in a pail for scientific research becomes something of a mordant sight gag.
From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2024
Robinson’s updated pail had separate compartments for food and liquids, and was designed so items within could be heated using a small lamp.
From Salon ● Jan. 16, 2024
Defensive lineman Josh Fuga will be the keeper of the lunch pail, which in the past has symbolized the Hokies success based on a workmanlike approach to the game.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 16, 2023
Schedule a time to pick up your free compost pail from the city — that’s because it’s also time to stop putting food scraps in the trash, as California law requires.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2023
I picked up the pail by the wire handle and ducked out the doorway, waving my other hand so they could see me across the field.
From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff
“Since the mid-19th century, miners, factory workers, dock hands, and other laborers have used sturdy dinner pails to hold hard-boiled eggs, vegetables, meat, coffee, pie, and other hardy fare.”
From Salon ● Jan. 16, 2024
The main message of the event is sustainability, with workshops on gardening and composting, where attendees can walk away with free compost kitchen pails as well as fruit and shade trees.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2023
She boils straw to kill any bacteria, then layers it with sawdust spawn in pails with holes drilled in them where the mushrooms will emerge.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 13, 2023
“I recall my daily trips to the common village pump to bring home pails of water for our needs. And I read the few available books by sitting close to a candle in the evenings.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 22, 2023
She removes the pails from her plank and hits at something on the grassy bank.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
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.
