Jump To:

• 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.

---

verb (used with object)

vatted, vatting

1. to put into or treat in a vat.

VAT ² American  

noun

1. value-added tax.

---

Vat. ³ American  

abbreviation

1. Vatican.

---

vat ¹ British  

/ 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 British  

abbreviation

1. Vatican

---

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

---

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, they 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

Ibni was there the same as every other day, unconcernedly dumping a sack of raw gold into the vat.

From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

Earlier this year, four other top UK chefs and restaurant owners urged the government to cut VAT for restaurants and pubs.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

VAT has been reduced on children's meals served in restaurants as well as kids' and family tickets for cinemas, shows, exhibitions and outdoor venues and activities.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

He has announced new measures, from cutting VAT on electricity bills to a £2 cap on bus fares.

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026

On his second day in the job, Burnham announced his first new measure, cutting the VAT from electricity bills, which the government says will save a typical household about £45 a year.

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026

So, those tax theorists who propose a shift from income tax to VAT tend to neglect an important part of labour market economics.

From Definition & Reality in the General Theory of Political Economy by Colignatus, Thomas

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 Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose

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

One by one, groups of two entered the vats, crushing the grapes for about two to three minutes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2025

Many applications of the technology involve creating entirely new organisms which are contained inside large vats in the production process.

From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2025

Clear vats shaped like cradles hold floating babies.

From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton

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 Stevenson, Robert Louis

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 Ford, Sewell

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 Haley, Bart

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 Stevenson, Robert Louis

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 Packard, Winthrop

"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 Mühlbach, L. (Luise)