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• vat
  vat

  noun

  a large container, as a tub or tank, used for storing or holding liquids.
• VAT
  VAT

  noun

  value-added tax.
• Vat.
  Vat.

  abbreviation

  Vatican.

vat

¹ American  

[vat] / væt /

noun

• vats
  plural

1. a large container, as a tub or tank, used for storing or holding liquids.

   a wine vat.

2. Chemistry.

   1. a preparation containing an insoluble dye converted by reduction into a soluble leuco base.

   2. a vessel containing such a preparation.

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verb (used with object)

vatted, vatting

1. to put into or treat in a vat.

VAT ² American  

noun

1. value-added tax.

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Vat. ³ American  

abbreviation

1. Vatican.

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vat ¹ British  

/ væt /

noun

1. a large container for holding or storing liquids

2. chem a preparation of reduced vat dye

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verb

1. (tr) to place, store, or treat in a vat

Vat. ² British  

abbreviation

1. Vatican

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VAT ³ British  

/ væt /

abbreviation

1. value-added tax: a tax levied on the difference between the cost of materials and the selling price of a commodity or service

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unvatted
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• vats
  plural

Etymology

Origin of vat

before 1100; Middle English (south); Old English fæt vessel; cognate with Old Norse fat vessel, German Fass keg

Explanation

A vat is a big container for holding liquids. If you're having a big party, your mom may get you to help cook a vat of spaghetti sauce to feed all your hungry relatives. Remember that vat has a short a sound; it rhymes with cat, hat, and sat. Vats are not always food-related. People who make pottery, for example, keep vats of glazes in which they dip their vases and cups in order to color them. No matter what a vat contains, it's often heavy and hard to move.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

vat VAT Vat. vats vatted vatting

Upon arriving at the scene, officials determined that methyl methacrylate, a volatile liquid used to make plastic, was leaking out of a 34,000-gallon vat.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026

Behind the glass of a sterile room, two employees in full protective suits could be seen extracting an insulin component from a large vat to send a test sample to a customer.

From Barron's ● Apr. 5, 2026

The justices don’t care what you’re doing out there on the plaza; they are just brains in a vat.

From Slate ● Mar. 4, 2026

The real-estate investor took off her shoes, sanitized her feet and waded into a giant vat filled to the brim with juicy grapes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2025

At least Mom let us leave without dumping a vat of holy water on June.

From "P.S. I Miss You" by Jen Petro-Roy

Like other installers, Mendoza's wish list also includes an end to VAT taxes that are inflating costs for a public he says no longer needs convincing.

From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026

Top UK chefs call for cutting VAT for pubs and restaurants to 10%

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Bains called for more action from the government to slash VAT rates.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

He also pointed to potentially reforming council tax to move towards a land value tax system, or scrapping some VAT exemptions.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

To this extent the Faroe government is expected to   continue its tough policies, including introducing a 20% VAT in 1993, and   has agreed to an IMF economic-political stabilization plan.

From The 1993 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

Vat. ix, and the name of the scribe George occurs in both, but the readings do not agree.

From A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, Vol. II. by Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener

At the heart of Britain's coin factory, old Bank of England telephones are stripped down and dipped into giant vats to recover a hidden treasure: the gold in their circuits.

From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026

“Like finding out that people were literally trying to smuggle giant vats of ranch,” said Stacy Stokes, the brand’s vice president of marketing and sales.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

Giant, stainless-steel mixing tanks and vats, on their sides, tanning in the Florida sun.

From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2026

He’s one of the last brewers to use an ancient method of fermenting in wooden vats.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026

“I am off to help build the wooden vats that the all-father requested,” said Thor.

From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman

These whiskies, which used to be called vatted malts, can be wonderful and complex.

From New York Times ● Mar. 16, 2018

We sat down, a considerable company, to dinner, most of us fine old vatted English tories of that class which is often so enthusiastic as to be inarticulate.

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 20 (of 25) by Robert Louis Stevenson

If you don’t want to taste what you eat, you let ’em hand you a free bottle of pure California claret, vatted on East Houston-st.

From Odd Numbers Being Further Chronicles of Shorty McCabe by Sewell Ford

I sat by the doors that were slatted      And the stuff had a surf like the sea— No vintage was anywhere vatted      Too strong for ventripotent me!

From In the Sweet Dry and Dry by Bart Haley

Michael was right about that port; there’s old and vatted for you!

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 7 (of 25) by Robert Louis Stevenson

Here the moon by night is distilling and vatting mountain dew from which all wild creatures may drink deep without fear of deleterious effects.

From Old Plymouth Trails by Winthrop Packard

"Here, vatting," he said, "every thing is in it, the certificate of birth, the enlistment paper, the discharge, and the other thing."

From Napoleon and Blucher by L. (Luise) Mühlbach