DictionaryAI

vessel

VES-uhl/ˈvɛs.əl/

Pluralvessels

6 meanings of vessel

Practice

  1. 1
    nouncountable
    A craft built for carrying people or goods, especially a ship or large boat on or under water; also, by extension, an aircraft or spacecraft.

    The cargo vessel carried thousands of containers across the Pacific.

    Naval vessels patrolled the coastline through the night.

    UsageCommon with a word for the type: cargo vessel, fishing vessel, naval vessel.

    Similarship, boat, craft

    Note

    The seafaring sense is the umbrella word for any watercraft, from a small boat to a submarine. It fits phrases built around the ship as a working unit: Defoe's traders sail their vessels, and Jules Verne writes of 'captains of vessels'. It carries the same 'container' idea as the cup-and-bowl meaning.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Defoe describes vessels engaged in trade. gutenberg.org
    • The wording 'captains of vessels' appears in an English translation of Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea. gutenberg.org
    • The word's ancestry connects it with the container meaning. en.wiktionary.org
  2. 2
    tube in bodynouncountable
    A duct or canal carrying fluid within the body of an animal or plant.

    The surgeon repaired a damaged vessel near the heart.

    In plants, vessels move water from the roots to the leaves.

    UsageUsually with a word for the fluid: blood vessel, lymph vessel. Alone in medical talk, a vessel usually means a blood vessel.

    Note

    The biologist's word works for both kingdoms. Animals have blood vessels and lymph vessels, and plants have xylem vessels. Phloem carries sugars through sieve tubes in flowering plants and sieve cells in other vascular plants.

  3. 3
    containernouncountable
    A receptacle that holds a liquid or other substance, for example a cup, glass, goblet, bowl, bottle, or pitcher.

    The museum displayed bronze vessels used for serving wine.

    He filled the vessel with fresh water from the well.

    Similarcontainer, receptacle

  4. 4
    person as carriernouncountable
    A person regarded as a container or carrier of qualities or feelings.

    The prophet saw himself as a vessel of divine will.

    Each of us can be a vessel for kindness toward others.

    UsageUsually a vessel of or a vessel for something: a vessel for her family's hopes.

    Similarinstrument, channel

    Note

    This figure of a person as something to be filled has a scriptural ring. The King James Bible of 1611 has 'He is a chosen vessel unto me'. Milton's Paradise Lost calls the serpent a 'fit vessel' for Satan to enter. Dolly Parton turns it around, singing of a vessel 'that's empty and useless'.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. bridwell.omeka.net
    • The King James Bible contains the quoted words, spoken by the Lord to Ananias about Saul in Acts 9:15. en.wikisource.org
    • John Milton's Paradise Lost describes the serpent as a 'fit vessel' for Satan to enter. en.wikisource.org
    • Dolly Parton sings of a vessel 'that's empty and useless' in 'The Seeker'. en.wiktionary.org

Less common meanings

  1. 5
    verbobsoletetransitive
    To place a liquid or other substance into a container.
    [Samuel 'Sam' Oliver:] Alright (or: All right), so the Devil didn't say that the winner was the one who vesseled (or: vesselled) him, just the one who sends him back to hell.
    2009, Reaper (TV series), 2nd season
    Note

    John Heydon used it of souls in 1662: they are 'no sooner vessel'd' in the body than 'that liberty is lost'.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

  2. 6
    nounobsoleteuncountable
    Dishes and cutlery considered together, especially when made of precious metals.
    All his Vessell was of golde and siluer, pottis, basons, ewers, dysshes, flagons, barels, cuppes, and all other thyngis.
    1523, John Bourchier, Here begynneth the first volum of sir Iohan Froyssart : of the cronycles of Englande
    Note

    John Bourchier's 1523 translation of Froissart spells it out: 'All his Vessell was of golde and siluer', followed by pots, basins, ewers, dishes, flagons and cups.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • John Bourchier translated Froissart's Chronicles, whose first English volume was published in 1523. en.wikisource.org
    • The quotation has the stated wording and continues with the listed kinds of tableware. en.wiktionary.org

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of vessel apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

Inherited through Middle English vessel ("small container") from Old French vaissel, from Late Latin vāscellum, a diminutive of vāsculum, itself a diminutive of vās ("vase, vessel").

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

  • English vessel is inherited from Middle English vessel, meaning a small container. en.wiktionary.org
  • Middle English vessel came from Old French vaissel, ultimately from Late Latin vāscellum. en.wiktionary.org
  • Vāscellum is a diminutive of vāsculum. en.wiktionary.org
  • Vāsculum is itself a diminutive of vās, meaning a vase or vessel. en.wiktionary.org