phial
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
- phialine adjective
Etymology
Origin of phial
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin phiala saucer < Greek phiálē; replacing Middle English phiole, fiole < Middle French fiole < Latin, as above
Vocabulary lists containing phial
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.
Take human blood, put it in a glass phial and keep it covered in dung for forty days.
From The New Yorker • Jan. 7, 2019
Suddenly, a phial of manna fell to the pavement and broke.
From Salon • Dec. 25, 2018
The experience was certainly straightforward - a welcoming staffer put a soothing warm wrapper on my finger, a pin prick which I hardly felt, and then a small phial of blood filled in a second.
From BBC • Aug. 14, 2014
A small phial of this life from the fertile bosom of Mother Earth will furnish men with substance for days.
From Slate • Jun. 1, 2012
Sam had just wits enough left to thrust the phial back into his breast.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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.
