a deep, cylindrical vessel, usually of metal, plastic, or wood, with a flat bottom and a semicircular bail, for collecting, carrying, or holding water, sand, fruit, etc.; pail.
2.
anything resembling or suggesting this.
3.
Machinery.
a.
any of the scoops attached to or forming the endless chain in certain types of conveyors or elevators.
b.
the scoop or clamshell of a steam shovel, power shovel, or dredge.
c.
a vane or blade of a waterwheel, paddle wheel, water turbine, or the like.
4.
(in a dam) a concave surface at the foot of a spillway for deflecting the downward flow of water.
drop in the bucket, a small, usually inadequate amount in relation to what is needed or requested: The grant for research was just a drop in the bucket.
14.
drop the bucket on, Australian Slang.to implicate, incriminate, or expose.
15.
kick the bucket, Slang.to die: His children were greedily waiting for him to kick the bucket.
Origin: 1250–1300;Middle Englishbuket < Anglo-French < Old Englishbucc (variant of būc vessel, belly; cognate with GermanBauch) + Old French-et-et
Regional variation note Though both bucket and pail are used throughout the entire U.S., pail has its greatest use in the Northern U.S., and bucket is more commonly used elsewhere, especially in the Midland and Southern U.S.
mid-13c., from Anglo-Norm. buquet "bucket, pail," influenced by or dim. of O.E. buc "pitcher, bulging vessel," originally "belly" (buckets were formerly of leather as well as wood), from P.Gmc. *bukaz, from PIE root *bhou-, variant of base *bheu- "to grow, swell." Kick the bucket (1785) perhaps is from
unrelated O.Fr. buquet "balance," a beam from which slaughtered animals were hung; perhaps reinforced by the notion of suicide by hanging.
n. the goal (hoop and net) in basketball. (Sports.) : Freddy arced one at the bucket and missed.
n. a hoop or basket in basketball. (Sports.) : Four buckets in two minutes. Is that a record, or what?
n. the buttocks. (See also can.) : Sam's getting a real fat bucket, isn't he?
n. an old car. (From bucket of bolts.) : How much did you pay for that old bucket?
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Easton
Bible Dictionary
Bucket definition
a vessel to draw water with (Isa. 40:15); used figuratively, probably, of a numerous issue (Num. 24:7).