flask
UK /ˈflɑːsk/ · US /ˈflæsk/ noun, verb
Forms flasks flasking flasked
- noun A narrow-necked vessel of metal or glass, used for various purposes; as of sheet metal, to carry gunpowder in; or of wrought iron, to contain quicksilver; or of glass, to heat water in, etc.
- noun A container used to discreetly carry a small amount of a hard alcoholic beverage; a pocket flask.
- noun (sciences) Laboratory glassware used to hold larger volumes than test tubes, normally having a narrow mouth of a standard size which widens to a flat or spherical base.
- noun (engineering) A container for holding a casting mold, especially for sand casting molds.
- noun A bed in a gun carriage.
- noun A nuclear flask, a large, secure lead-lined container for the transport of nuclear material.
- noun (Newfoundland) A small bottle of liquor.
- verb (dentistry) To invest a denture in a flask so as to produce a sectional mold.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English flask, flaske (“case, cask, keg”), from Old English flasce, flaxe (“bottle, flask”) and Medieval Latin flascō (“bottle”); from Frankish *flaskā; both from Proto-Germanic *flaskǭ (“braid-covered bottle, wicker-enclosed jug”), from Proto-Indo-European *ploḱ-skō (“flat”), or from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- (“to weave”). Doublet of fiasco, flacon, and flagon.
Related to Dutch fles; also German Low German Flaske, Fless, German Flasche, Danish flaske; also Lithuanian plókščias, Czech ploský, Albanian flashkët.
The sense “laboratory glassware” is from Italian fiasco, and the sense “container for holding a casting mold” is from Middle French flasque (“powder flask”), itself from Old Spanish flasco, frasco, both from Late Latin above.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A small bottle-shaped vessel for holding fluids; as, a flask of oil or wine.
- noun A narrow-necked vessel of metal or glass, used for various purposes; as of sheet metal, to carry gunpowder in; or of wrought iron, to contain quicksilver; or of glass, to heat water in, etc.
Etymology [AS. flasce, flaxe; akin to D. flesch, OHG. flasca, G. flasche, Icel. & Sw. flaska, Dan. flaske, OF. flasche, LL. flasca, flasco; of uncertain origin; cf. L. vasculum, dim. of vas a vessel, Gr. Flagon, Flasket.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “flask”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details