Adjacent Words

Vessel definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

VES'SEL, n. [L. vas, vasis. This word is probably the English vat.]
1. A cask or utensil proper for holding liquors and other things, as a tun, a pipe, a puncheon, a hogshead, a barrel, a firkin, a bottle, a kettle, a cup, a dish, etc.
2. In anatomy, any tube or canal, in which the blood and other humors are contained, secreted or circulated, as the arteries, veins, lymphatics, spermatics, etc.
3. In the physiology of plants, a canal or tube of very small bore, in which the sap is contained and conveyed; also, a bag or utricle, filled with pulp, and serving as a reservoir for sap; also, a spiral canal, usually of a larger bore, for receiving and distributing air.
4. Any building used in navigation, which carries masts and sails, from the largest ship of war down to a fishing sloop. In general however, vessel is used for the smaller ships, brigs, sloops, schooners, luggers, scows, etc.
5. Something containing.
Vessels of wrath, in Scripture, are such persons as are to receive the full effects of God's wrath and indignation, as a punishment for their sins.
Vessels of mercy, are persons who are to receive the effects of God's mercy, or future happiness and glory.
Chosen vessels, ministers of the gospel, as appointed to bear the glad news of salvation to others; called also earthen vessels, on account of their weakness and frailty.
VES'SEL, v.t. To put into a vessel. [Not in use.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a tube in which a body fluid circulates [syn: vessel, vas]
2: a craft designed for water transportation [syn: vessel, watercraft]
3: an object used as a container (especially for liquids)

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin vascellum, diminutive of Latin vas vase, vessel Date: 14th century 1. a. a container (as a cask, bottle, kettle, cup, or bowl) for holding something b. a person into whom some quality (as grace) is infused <a child of light, a true vessel of the Lord — H. J. Laski> 2. a watercraft bigger than a rowboat; especially ship 1 3. a. a tube or canal (as an artery) in which a body fluid is contained and conveyed or circulated b. a conducting tube in the xylem of a vascular plant formed by the fusion and loss of end walls of a series of cells

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a hollow receptacle esp. for liquid, e.g. a cask, cup, pot, bottle, or dish. 2 a ship or boat, esp. a large one. 3 a Anat. a duct or canal etc. holding or conveying blood or other fluid, esp. = blood-vessel. b Bot. a woody duct carrying or containing sap etc. 4 Bibl. or joc. a person regarded as the recipient or exponent of a quality (a weak vessel). Etymology: ME f. AF vessel(e), OF vaissel(le) f. LL vascellum dimin. of vas vessel

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Vessel Ves"sel, n. [OF. vessel, veissel, vaissel, vaissiel, F. vascellum, dim. of vasculum, dim. of vas a vessel. Cf. Vascular, Vase.] 1. A hollow or concave utensil for holding anything; a hollow receptacle of any kind, as a hogshead, a barrel, a firkin, a bottle, a kettle, a cup, a bowl, etc. [They drank] out of these noble vessels. --Chaucer. 2. A general name for any hollow structure made to float upon the water for purposes of navigation; especially, one that is larger than a common rowboat; as, a war vessel; a passenger vessel. [He] began to build a vessel of huge bulk. --Milton. 3. Fig.: A person regarded as receiving or containing something; esp. (Script.), one into whom something is conceived as poured, or in whom something is stored for use; as, vessels of wrath or mercy. He is a chosen vessel unto me. --Acts ix. 15. [The serpent] fit vessel, fittest imp of fraud, in whom To enter. --Milton. 4. (Anat.) Any tube or canal in which the blood or other fluids are contained, secreted, or circulated, as the arteries, veins, lymphatics, etc. 5. (Bot.) A continuous tube formed from superposed large cylindrical or prismatic cells (trache[ae]), which have lost their intervening partitions, and are usually marked with dots, pits, rings, or spirals by internal deposition of secondary membranes; a duct. Acoustic vessels. See under Acoustic. Weaker vessel, a woman; -- now applied humorously. ``Giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel.'' --1 Peter iii. 7. ``You are the weaker vessel.'' --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Vessel Ves"sel, v. t. To put into a vessel. [Obs.] --Bacon.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mortar Mor"tar, n. [OE. morter, AS. mort[=e]re, L. mortarium: cf. F. mortier mortar. Cf. sense 2 (below), also 2d Mortar, Martel, Morter.] 1. A strong vessel, commonly in form of an inverted bell, in which substances are pounded or rubbed with a pestle. 2. [F. mortier, fr. L. mortarium mortar (for trituarating).] (Mil.) A short piece of ordnance, used for throwing bombs, carcasses, shells, etc., at high angles of elevation, as 45[deg], and even higher; -- so named from its resemblance in shape to the utensil above described. Mortar bed (Mil.), a framework of wood and iron, suitably hollowed out to receive the breech and trunnions of a mortar. Mortar boat or vessel (Naut.), a boat strongly built and adapted to carrying a mortar or mortars for bombarding; a bomb ketch. Mortar piece, a mortar. [Obs.] --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Packet Pack"et, n. [F. paquet, dim. fr. LL. paccus, from the same source as E. pack. See Pack.] 1. A small pack or package; a little bundle or parcel; as, a packet of letters. --Shak. 2. Originally, a vessel employed by government to convey dispatches or mails; hence, a vessel employed in conveying dispatches, mails, passengers, and goods, and having fixed days of sailing; a mail boat. Packet boat, ship, or vessel. See Packet, n., 2. Packet day, the day for mailing letters to go by packet; or the sailing day. Packet note or post. See under Paper.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(vessels) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A vessel is a ship or large boat. (FORMAL) ...a New Zealand navy vessel. N-COUNT 2. A vessel is a bowl or other container in which liquid is kept. (FORMAL) N-COUNT 3. see also blood vessel

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ves'-el: Is used freely in English Versions of the Bible to translate keli, the Aramaic ma'n, and skeuos, words all meaning "an implement or utensil" of any kind, when the context shows that a hollow utensil is meant. In 1Sa 21:5, however, the translation of the plural of keli by "vessels" is dubious. English Versions of the Bible evidently intended something in the nature of provision wallets, and the "holiness" of such objects finds partial parallels in Nu 19:15; Le 11:32-34, etc. But in 1Sa 21:8, in the immediate context of the verse above, keli certainly means "weapons," and this translation is quite intelligible in 21:5 also. For war among the Hebrews was a holy function, calling for extreme ceremonial purity (De 23:9-14). See the commentaries. and especially RS2, 455-56. In addition, "vessel" appears in Isa 30:14 for nebhel, "jar"; in Mt 13:48 for aggos, "vessels"; and in Sirach 21:14; Mt 25:4 for aggeion, a diminutive form of aggos. A different use is that of The Wisdom of Solomon 14:1, where "vessel" represents ploion, "a boat," while The Wisdom of Solomon 14:5,6 the King James Version has "weak vessel" for schedia, "raft" (so the Revised Version (British and American)). Vessels of all sorts and kinds and for all sorts of uses were so familiar as to make them natural illustrations for different sorts of human beings (Ho 8:8; Isa 22:24; Jer 22:28, etc.; see POTTER), and through Ac 9:15 the word "vessel" has passed into Christian theology as signifying simply a human being. But the figure of such "vessels" as (passively) filled with different contents is not Biblical. In 1Th 4:4 "vessel" may be taken as a figure for either the man's own body or for his wife. Between these possibilities the commentaries are almost equally divided.

Burton Scott Easton

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Utensil (for holding anything). 2. Bottom, sailing craft. 3. Tube, duct, canal.

Moby Thesaurus

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