pailful

American  

[peyl-fool] / ˈpeɪlˌfʊl /

noun

plural

pailfuls

1. a quantity sufficient to fill a pail.

   a pailful of water.

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Spelling

See -ful.

Etymology

Origin of pailful

First recorded in 1585–95; pail + -ful

Example Sentences

“Pope!” she whispered again, and it was as though he had had a pailful of ordure thrown in his face.

From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

Mix it well together with a pailful of cold water, let it remain several days, then stir in several more pailsful of cold water.

From The New England Cook Book, or Young Housekeeper's Guide Being a Collection of the Most Valuable Receipts; Embracing all the Various Branches of Cookery, and Written in a Minute and Methodical Manner by Anonymous

Would you not like to see Professor Plücker, with his trowsers duly tucked up, washing his feet in a pailful of this very soothing fluid?

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. V, October, 1850, Volume I. by

This sand covered the sleepers to such a depth that the mules could not step quickly; there was always a pailful of it on each foot to lift and throw off.

From Horace Chase by Woolson, Constance Fenimore

‘Now is your chance to get that pailful of sunbeams thy foolish old Mammie Trebisken axed ’ee to get,’ said the miner.

From The Piskey-Purse Legends and Tales of North Cornwall by Tregarthen, Enys