bucket

verb

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

Synonyms of bucket

• scoop
• spoon

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 on the Web

As Hortiz mentioned at his pre-draft presser, fullback and tight end will be bucketed together in this offense. —Daniel Popper, New York Times, 22 Apr. 2026

Broadly, these can be bucketed into tech, team, and time. —Ilana Yurkiewicz, STAT, 2 Apr. 2026

The data was then bucketed into six indexes—tax rates, quality of life, senior population/migration trends, quality of health care, job market, and overall value—which were weighted based on responses from a March 2025 public survey. —Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 15 Dec. 2025

However, the Warriors, aided by two timely Moses Moody buckets in the third, battled back to retake the lead, 91-88, by the end of the third. —Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 13 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1640, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Phrases Containing bucket

• bucket brigade
• bucket down
• bucket hat
• bucket list
• bucket loader
• bucket seat
• bucket shop
• drop in the bucket
• kick the bucket
• lunch-bucket
• rust bucket

Kids Definition

bucket

noun

buck·​et

ˈbək-ət

1

: a usually round container for catching, holding, or carrying liquids or solids : pail

2

: an object for collecting, scooping, or carrying something

3

: bucketful