bucket
BUH-kiht
Bucket (noun) means a round, open container with a handle, used to carry liquids or loose items. Example: “He carried a bucket of sand down to the beach.”
noun
1
A round, open container with a handle, used to carry liquids or loose items.
"He carried a bucket of sand down to the beach."
"Leave a bucket under the leak until the plumber arrives."
"She filled the bucket with water to wash the car."
2
The amount that such a container holds, or informally, a large quantity of something.
"She drank buckets of tea while revising for her exams."
"It rained buckets all weekend."
"He put buckets of effort into the project."
verb
1
To rain very heavily.
"Don't walk to the shops now, it's bucketing down outside."
"The rain bucketed down all through the match."
"It was bucketing down by the time we reached the car."
How to use bucket
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA container for carrying liquids or loose material, or (informally) a large amount of something.
Easily confused with
Common pairings
a bucket of water
buckets of rain
kick the bucket
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Word forms
- Plural
- buckets
- Third person singular
- buckets
- Past tense
- bucketed
Fill the gap
Can you complete this real example?
He carried a _____ of sand down to the beach.
Etymology
From Middle English buket/boket, partly from Old English bucc ("pitcher") and partly from Anglo-Norman buket ("pail"), ultimately traced to a Frankish word for "belly, stomach."
Related words
Frequently asked questions
What does “bucket” mean?
The word “bucket” means a round, open container with a handle, used to carry liquids or loose items. In plain terms, a container for carrying liquids or loose material, or (informally) a large amount of something.
How do you pronounce “bucket”?
“Bucket” is pronounced BUH-kiht (/ˈbʌkɪt/ in IPA).
How do you use “bucket” in a sentence?
Here is “bucket” used in a sentence: “She filled the bucket with water to wash the car.”
What part of speech is “bucket”?
Depending on how it is used, “bucket” can be a noun and a verb.
Where does the word “bucket” come from?
The word “bucket” comes from Old English. From Middle English buket/boket, partly from Old English bucc ("pitcher") and partly from Anglo-Norman buket ("pail"), ultimately traced to a Frankish word for "belly, stomach.".
Is “bucket” a common word?
“Bucket” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A1 level.
How many meanings does “bucket” have?
“Bucket” has 3 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a round, open container with a handle, used to carry liquids or loose items.
What is a bucket list?
A bucket list is a personal list of experiences or achievements someone hopes to have before they die — running a marathon, say, or seeing the northern lights. The name plays on the idiom 'kick the bucket,' an informal way of saying to die. The term is informal but has become extremely common in travel and lifestyle writing.
What is the difference between a bucket and a pail?
They name the same object: a round, open container with a handle used to carry liquids or loose items. Pail is the somewhat older-fashioned word and survives mainly in American English and in set phrases like 'lunch pail'; bucket is the everyday word across most of the English-speaking world. Compounds almost always take bucket — bucket seat, bucket list, mop bucket.
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