bucket
bucket
/ˈbʌkɪt/
1 countable an open container with a handle, used for carrying or holding liquids, sand, etc. SYNONYM pail
a plastic bucket
(British English) They were playing on the beach with their buckets and spades.
The children ran down to the beach with their buckets and spades.
The cleaner put down his mop and bucket and sat down.
The sand had spilt from the fire bucket.
a slop bucket full of scraps of food
TOPICS Houses and homesC1
Collocations
adjective
emptyfullgalvanized…
verb + bucket
fillcarrydump…
bucket + verb
be full of somethingcontain somethinghold something…
preposition
in a/the bucketbucket of
phrases
a bucket and spademop and bucket
2 countable a large container that is part of a crane or digger and is used for lifting things 3 (also bucketful /ˈbʌkɪtfʊl/) countable the amount contained in a bucket two buckets/bucketfuls of water
by the bucket/bucketful They used to drink tea by the bucketful (= in large quantities).
She poured the bucket of dirty water down the drain.
a bucket of oats for the horses
big buckets of popcorn and Coke
4 buckets plural (informal) a large amount To succeed in show business, you need buckets of confidence.
We wept buckets.
He was sweating buckets by the end of the race.
The rain was coming down in buckets (= it was raining very heavily).
Idioms
Word Origin
Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French buquet ‘tub, pail’, perhaps from Old English būc ‘belly, pitcher’.