Alternative forms

• vessell (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#VESSELCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#VESSEL vessel, vessell (“small container”); from Old FrenchCategory:English terms derived from Old French#VESSEL vaissel (compare modern French vaisseau and Catalan vaixell), from Late LatinCategory:English terms derived from Late Latin#VESSEL vāscellum, diminutive of vāsculum, diminutive of vās (“vase, vessel”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛsəl/, [ˈvɛsɫ̩]Category:English 2-syllable words#VESSELCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#VESSEL

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#VESSEL
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈvesəl/Category:English 2-syllable words#VESSELCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#VESSEL
• Rhymes: -ɛsəlCategory:Rhymes:English/ɛsəl#VESSELCategory:Rhymes:English/ɛsəl/2 syllables#VESSEL

Noun

vessel (plural vessels)Category:English lemmas#VESSELCategory:English nouns#VESSELCategory:English countable nouns#VESSELCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#VESSELCategory:Pages with entries#VESSELCategory:Pages with 2 entries#VESSEL

2. A craft for transportation on or in water, air, or space.
   1. (nauticalCategory:en:Nautical#VESSEL) Any craft designed for transportation on or in water, such as a ship, boat, or submarine. [From c.1300]

      Synonym: watercraft

      Hypernyms: vessel < vehicle

      Hyponyms: ship, boat, barge, raft, canoe, kayak

      • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:

        But my hope was, that if I stood along this coast till I came to that part where the English traded, I should find some of their vessels upon their usual design of trade, that would relieve and take us in.

        Category:English terms with quotations#VESSEL

      • 1873, Jules Verne, chapter I, in [anonymous], transl., Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas; […], James R. Osgood edition, Boston, Mass.: Geo[rge] M[urray] Smith & Co., →OCLC, part I, page 3:

        Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels, skippers, […] naval officers of all countries, and the Governments of several states on the two continents, were deeply interested in the matter.

        Category:English terms with quotations#VESSEL

      • 1905, H. G. Wells, The Empire of the Ants:

        He saw now clearly that the sole crew of the vessel was these two dead men, and though he could not see their faces, he saw by their outstretched hands, which were all of ragged flesh, that they had been subjected to some strange exceptional process of decay.

        Category:English terms with quotations#VESSEL

        Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
      • 2012 March, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, page 87:

        Conditions were horrendous aboard most British naval vessels at the time. Scurvy and other diseases ran rampant, killing more seamen each year than all other causes combined, including combat.

        Category:English terms with quotations#VESSEL

   2. A craft designed for transportation through air or space. [From 1915]

      Hyponyms: spaceship, ship

      • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Quarians Codex entry:

        Driven from their home system by the geth nearly three centuries ago, most quarians now live aboard the Migrant Fleet, a flotilla of fifty thousand vessels ranging in size from passenger shuttles to mobile space stations.

        Category:English terms with quotations#VESSEL

3. (uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#VESSEL, obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#VESSEL or dialectalCategory:English dialectal terms#VESSEL) Dishes and cutlery collectively, especially if made of precious metals. [c.1300–c.1600]
   • 1523, John Bourchier, translated by Jean Froissart, Here begynneth the first volum of sir Iohan Froyssart : of the cronycles of Englande, Fraunce, Spayne, Portyngale, Scotlande, Bretayne, Flauders: and other places adioynynge.:

     All his Vessell was of golde and siluer, pottis, basons, ewers, dysshes, flagons, barels, cuppes, and all other thyngis.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VESSEL

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
5. A container of liquid or other substance, such as a glass, goblet, cup, bottle, bowl, or pitcher. [From c.1300]
6. (figurative) A person as a container of qualities or feelings. [from 1382]

   A teacher should be a vessel of knowledge.Category:English terms with usage examples#VESSEL

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 9:15:

     But the Lord said vnto him, Goe thy way: for hee is a chosen vessell vnto me, to beare my Name before the Gentiles, and Kings, and the children of Israel.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VESSEL

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     [The serpent] fit vessel, fittest imp of fraud, in whom to enter.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VESSEL

   • 1975, Dolly Parton, “The Seeker”:

     I am a vessel that’s empty and useless / I am a bad seed that fell by the way

     Category:English terms with quotations#VESSEL

   • 2024 February 29, Tim Jonze, quoting Rob Reiner, “‘We need to reach as many people as we can’: Rob Reiner on Trump, family – and his brilliant, beloved movies”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     But they [Christian nationalists] excuse all that by saying God works in mysterious ways, and that he sent us this flawed vessel by which we can achieve the goals that we want to achieve.

     Category:English terms with quotations#VESSEL

7. (biologyCategory:en:Biology#VESSEL) A tube or canal that carries fluid in an animal or plant. [From 1398]

   Hyponyms: blood vessel, lymph vessel

   Blood and lymph vessels are found in humans; xylem and phloem vessels are found in plants.Category:English terms with usage examples#VESSEL

Verb

vessel (third-person singular simple present vessels, present participle (US) vesseling or (UK) vesselling, simple past and past participle (US) vesseled or (UK) vesselled)Category:English lemmas#VESSELCategory:English verbs#VESSELCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#VESSELCategory:Pages with entries#VESSELCategory:Pages with 2 entries#VESSEL

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#VESSEL) To put into a vessel.
   • 1577, William Harrison, The Description of England in Holinshed’s Chronicles, Volume 1, Book 3, Chapter 12 “Of venemous beastes &c.,”

     Our hony alſo is taken and reputed to be the beſt bycauſe it is harder, better wrought & clenlyer veſſelled vp, thẽ that which cõmeth from beyond the ſea, where they ſtampe and ſtraine their combes, Bées, & young Blow|inges altogither into the ſtuffe, as I haue béene informed.

   • 1627, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum: or, A Naturall Historie, London: W. Lee, Cent. VI, section 529, p. 137,

     The fourth Rule ſhall be, to marke what Herbs, ſome Earths doe put fourth of themſelves; And to take that Earth, and to Pot it, or to Veſſell it; And in that to ſet the Seed you would change […]

   • 1662, John Heydon, The Harmony of the World‎, London: Robert Horn, Epistle Dedicatory:

     Man had at the firſt, and ſo have all ſouls before their entrance into the body, an explicite methodicall knowledge, but they are no ſooner veſſel’d, but that liberty is loſt, and nothing remains but a vaſt confuſed notion of the creature […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#VESSEL

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
   • 2009, Reaper (TV series), 2nd season, episode known as The Home Stretch:

     [Samuel 'Sam' Oliver:] Alright (or: All right), so the Devil didn't say that the winner was the one who vesseled (or: vesselled) him, just the one who sends him back to hell.

References

• “vessel” in Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary: Based on Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 8th edition, Springfield, Mass.: G[eorge] & C[harles] Merriam, 1973 (1974 printing), →OCLC.

Anagrams

• -selves, selves

Alternative forms

• vescel, vessell, fessell, vessall, vesel, vessayle, fessel, wessell, ffessell

Etymology

Borrowed from Old FrenchCategory:Middle English terms borrowed from Old French#VESSELCategory:Middle English terms derived from Old French#VESSEL vaissel, vessel, from Late LatinCategory:Middle English terms derived from Late Latin#VESSEL vāscellum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛsɛl/, /ˈvɛsəl/Category:Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation#VESSEL

Noun

vesselCategory:Middle English lemmas#VESSELCategory:Middle English nouns#VESSELCategory:Middle English entries with incorrect language header#VESSELCategory:Pages with entries#VESSELCategory:Pages with 2 entries#VESSEL (plural vessels or vessel)

1. A container or vessel; a box for storage:
   1. A vessel; any open container used in the kitchen:
      1. (by extension) A decorative container; a vase used for adornment.
      2. (by extension) A piece of cookware; a container used for cooking.
      3. (by extension) Any sort of kitchen tool or utensil.
   2. A container used for the storage of medicines; a pharmaceutical container.
   3. Any object, especially a container, used in religious ceremonies or rituals.
   4. A large container or vat used for bulk storage.
   5. (alchemyCategory:enm:Alchemy#VESSEL) Alchemical equipment, ware, or tools.
   6. Traveling equipment; travel gear.
2. In several anatomical senses:
   1. (figurative) A human being or the body of a human being.
   2. Blood vessels; the tubes that blood travels in.
   3. Any sort of tube, duct or canal in the body (e.g. the intestines)
   4. (figurative, rareCategory:Middle English terms with rare senses#VESSEL) The heart (as the seat of feelings).
3. A seafaring vessel; a boat or ship.
4. (mainly Biblical) A machine, device, or method.