pail

[peyl]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pail ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the amount filling a pail.

Origin of pail

before 1000; Middle English payle wooden container, continuing Old English pægel wine container, liquid measure (of unknown orig.; compare Middle Dutch, Low German pegel half pint), by association with Old French paielle pan < Latin patella; see patella

Can be confusedpale pail

Regional variation note

1. See bucket.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for pail

pot, container, jug, canister, bucket, vessel, receptacle, can, piggin

Examples from the Web for pail

Contemporary Examples of pail

Homer uses metaphor—‘it was so crowded, it was like bees swarming over a pail of milk.’
Denis O’Hare Talks About One-Man Show “An Iliad”
Janice Kaplan
March 25, 2012
Let us try to set aside—preferably forever—the image of the ever-immaculate Romney crouched bare-assed over a pail.
Mitt Romney's 'Missionary in France' Tale Won't Make Us Forget He's Rich
Michelle Cottle
December 15, 2011

Historical Examples of pail

He disappeared only to return with a pail of cold water to temper the first.
The Leopard Woman
Stewart Edward White
This man asked me where I was bound with my pail, and I told him.
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper
Take it out with a wooden ladle, and put it into a small tub or pail.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Eliza Leslie
Then he went forward, and drew the pail from Amelia's unwilling grasp.
Tiverton Tales
Alice Brown
But the others could find no fault with it, and Sereno drained the pail.
Meadow Grass
Alice Brown

British Dictionary definitions for pail

pail

noun

a bucket, esp one made of wood or metal

Also called: pailful the quantity that fills a pail

Word Origin for pail

Old English pægel; compare Catalan paella frying pan, paella

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pail

mid-14c., of uncertain origin, probably from Old French paele, paelle "cooking or frying pan, warming pan;" also a liquid measure, from Latin patella "small pan, little dish, platter," diminutive of patina "broad shallow pan, stewpan" (see pan (n.)).

Old English had pægel "wine vessel," but etymology does not support a connection. This Old English word possibly is from Medieval Latin pagella "a measure," from Latin pagella "column," diminutive of pagina (see page (n.1)).