vat

[vat]

noun

a large container, as a tub or tank, used for storing or holding liquids: a wine vat.

Chemistry.

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

verb (used with object), vat·ted, vat·ting.

to put into or treat in a vat.

Origin of vat

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

Related formsun·vat·ted, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for vats

container, cask, barrel, cistern, tank, basin, tub, pit, tun

Examples from the Web for vats

Contemporary Examples of vats

Together the teams will use 66lb of flour, 408lb of butter, 990lb of sugar, four vats of golden syrup and 1,480lb of chocolate.
Giant Cake Bake to Celebrate Jubilee
Tom Sykes
May 28, 2012
When the skins and stems begin to form a cap on top of the vats, they are punched down by hand.
An Old-Fashioned Wine Harvest
Sophie Menin
October 18, 2010

Historical Examples of vats

I was then taken to visit his incandescent ovens and his vats in a state of ebullition.
My Double Life
Sarah Bernhardt
Then the thrice-lovely Nastasia herself leaped into the vats.
Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales
Anonymous
Then the thrice-lovely Nastasia made the nobleman leap into the vats.
Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales
Anonymous
"We'll take the body to the hydroponic farm for the vats," he said.
Rebels of the Red Planet
Charles Louis Fontenay
Maybe it has something to do with the bodies they put in the vats.
Rebels of the Red Planet
Charles Louis Fontenay

British Dictionary definitions for vats

vat

noun

a large container for holding or storing liquids

chem a preparation of reduced vat dye

verb vats, vatting or vatted

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

Word Origin for vat

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

VAT

abbreviation for (in Britain)

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for vats

vat

early 13c., southern variant (see V) of Old English fæt "container, vat," from Proto-Germanic *fatan (cf. Old Saxon, Old Norse fat, Old Frisian fet, Middle Dutch, Dutch vat, Old High German faz, German faß).