bucket

noun buck·et \ ˈbə-kət \

|Updated on: 3 Aug 2018

Examples: bucket in a Sentence

Definition of bucket

1 : a typically cylindrical vessel for catching, holding, or carrying liquids or solids

2 : something resembling a bucket: such as

a : the scoop of an excavating machine

b : one of the receptacles on the rim of a waterwheel

c : one of the cups of an endless-belt conveyor

d : one of the vanes of a turbine rotor

3 : bucketful

4 : bucket seat

5 : basket 3b

See bucket defined for English-language learners

See bucket defined for kids

Examples of bucket in a Sentence

We used two buckets of paint to paint the living room.
made buckets of money in the stock market

Recent Examples of bucket from the Web

The companion peppermint jelly conditioner provides an intense chilling effect (like dunking your head in an ice bucket on a hot day).

— kari molvar, Vogue, "The Supercharged Detox Ingredient That’s Missing From Your Shampoo," 14 June 2018
Suspicious, the boyfriend’s father, who lives with the couple, searched the backyard and found the infant with a potting plant bucket on top of her and noticed the baby’s feet moving, the man told WSVN-Ch.

— doug phillips, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Newborn's moving feet alerts man to baby abandoned beneath plant pot, reports say," 13 June 2018
But a new national poll from NBC and the Wall Street Journal will likely dump a bucket of cold water on that GOP excitement.

— chris cillizza, CNN, "Donald Trump isn't on the 2018 ballot. Except, he sort of is.," 7 June 2018
JaVale McGee scored 12 points and didn’t miss a field goal, finding buckets mostly on wide-open rim runs from the result of an overstretched defense.

— rohan nadkarni, SI.com, "Warriors Use Balanced Attack to Pull Away From Cavs Late, Take Game 2," 3 June 2018
Buckethead is the super-eclectic, super-prolific and super-eye-catching musician known for, among other things, wearing an inverted KFC chicken bucket on his head as a kind of fast-food stovepipe hat.

— john adamian, courant.com, "Buckethead To Play The Warehouse," 7 Apr. 2018
After Udoka Azubuike's bucket on the game’s first possession, Villanova was off and running.

— blair kerkhoff, kansascity, "Super Nova doesn't take long to set Final Four record for threes in win over Kansas | The Kansas City Star," 31 Mar. 2018
Aminu had two critical plays down the stretch, blocking a Jrue Holiday shot and snaring a tough rebound on one end before rebounding a Lillard miss for a bucket on the other end.

— joe freeman, OregonLive.com, "Damian Lillard explodes in 4th, Portland Trail Blazers beat New Orleans Pelicans: Rapid reaction," 27 Mar. 2018
Enter Aldridge, who brought the Spurs within 65-64 with an and-one bucket on David West.

— jeff mcdonald, San Antonio Express-News, "Aldridge saves Spurs’ bacon again," 20 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bucket.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of bucket

Middle English, from Anglo-French buket, from Old English būc pitcher, belly; akin to Old High German būh belly

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 13th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

bucket Synonyms

Phrases

all kinds (of), quite a bit;

Other Civil Engineering Terms

asphalt, ballast, barrage, cantilever, infrastructure, sluice

bucket

verb

Definition of bucket

bucketed; bucketing; buckets

transitive verb

1 : to draw or lift in buckets

2 British

a : to ride (a horse) hard

b : to drive hurriedly or roughly

3 : to deal with in a bucket shop

intransitive verb

1 : hustle, hurry

2 a : to move about haphazardly or irresponsibly

b : to move roughly or jerkily

3 chiefly British, informal : to rain very heavily : pour

It doesn't just rain here. It pours; it lashes; it buckets.
—Kathleen A. Quinn

—usually used with down

Rain bucketed down for the next two days … .
—Thurston Clarke

See bucket defined for English-language learners

Examples of bucket in a Sentence

bucketing water from the well, we raced to put out the fire
getting the troops into the bucketing landing craft proved to be challenging

Recent Examples of bucket from the Web

But in a storm of Harvey's sheer monstrousness – hundreds of miles across, lingering for days with bucketing rain that swallowed roads and initially kept rescue aircraft grounded – no government response could ever have been enough.

— author: kevin sullivan, peter holley, Alaska Dispatch News, "Texans’ do-it-ourselves rescue effort defines Hurricane Harvey," 3 Sep. 2017
But in a storm of Harvey’s sheer monstrousness — hundreds of miles across, lingering for days with bucketing rain that swallowed roads and initially kept rescue aircraft grounded — no government response could ever have been enough.

— kevin sullivan, Washington Post, "Texans’ do-it-ourselves rescue effort defines Hurricane Harvey," 2 Sep. 2017

First Known Use of bucket

1640

in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

bucket Synonyms

Synonyms

dip, lade, ladle, scoop, spoon;

Near Antonyms

pour;

fill;

Related Words

bail;

deplete, drain, eliminate, empty, exhaust;

bleed, draw (off);

dish;

slop;

decant, draw, pump, siphon (also syphon), suction;

BUCKET Defined for English Language Learners

bucket

noun

Definition of bucket for English Language Learners

: an open container with a handle that is used especially to hold and carry water and other liquids
: the amount contained in a bucket
: a large container that is part of a machine (such as a tractor) and that is used for digging or carrying dirt, rocks, and other material