buckets

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of bucket.

   Volunteers passed buckets of sand down the line to fill the flood barriers.

   The film has buckets of charm but very little plot.

   Note

   Beyond counting pails, the plural has an informal life of its own as a word for plenty: buckets of liquid, as when it rains buckets or someone cries buckets, and then buckets of anything at all, from money to charm. In that use it never turns singular; a bucket of charm sounds measured, while buckets of it sounds like abundance.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of bucket.

   The cook buckets the scraps and carries them out to the pigs.

   The software buckets incoming emails by sender and topic.

   Note

   The verb's meanings divide by whether an object follows. With one, it puts or lifts things in a bucket, rides a horse hard, or, in Australian slang, savages someone with criticism: the press buckets the coach. Without one, it is informal for heavy rain or high speed: it buckets all night; the truck buckets along. The same spelling serves as the plural noun.

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