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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

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

Since then, Zhan's body has been stored in a 2,000-litre container at the institute in a vat of -190C liquid nitrogen.

From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2025

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

The man from the juice joint, who left the great mixing vat for no more than a few minutes, storms off to Uncle Al, convinced that roustabouts are responsible.

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

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

The temporary 15% VAT reduction applies to family attraction tickets, children's meals and cinema tickets until September.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 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

One way to reduce marginal rates has been the switch from income tax to VAT.

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

We bring in the koji, and then prepare the mash in wooden vats during the winter.

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

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.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2025

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.

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood

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

From New York Times ● Mar. 16, 2018

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

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

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

"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)

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