vat

¹

[vat]

noun

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.

verb (used with object)

vatted, vatting 

1. to put into or treat in a vat.

VAT

²

noun

1. value-added tax.

Vat.

³

abbreviation

1. Vatican.

vat

¹

/ væt /

noun

1. a large container for holding or storing liquids

2. chem a preparation of reduced vat dye

verb

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

Vat.

²

abbreviation

1. Vatican

VAT

³

/ 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

Other Word Forms

• unvatted adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of vat¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of vat¹

Old English fæt; related to Old Frisian fet, Old Saxon, Old Norse fat, Old High German faz

Example Sentences

Instead, two giant vats of porridge were brought out from the kitchen on wheeled carts and pushed ’round the hall by blank-faced kitchen maids, who stopped once at each table.

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I'm peering into a large vat containing a perfectly clear liquid – a special kind of flame retardant for wood products.

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

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Industrially, vats of genetically engineered E. coli act like living factories producing a variety of products from pharmaceuticals like insulin, vital for diabetes management, to various platform chemicals used to make fuels and solvents.

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The room itself is about the size of a football pitch, and home to row after row of huge metal vats within which chemical reactions force the different rare earths apart.

Read more on BBC