A bucket is typically a watertight, vertical
cylinder or
truncatedcone or square, with an open top and a flat bottom, attached to a semicircular carrying
handle called the bail.[1][2]
A bucket is usually an open-top container. In contrast, a
pail can have a top or lid and is a
shipping container. In common usage, the two terms are often used interchangeably.
Types and uses
A number of bucket types exist, used for a variety of purposes. Though most of these are functional purposes, a number, including those constructed from precious metals, are used for ceremonial purposes. Common types of bucket and their adjoining purposes include:
Household and garden buckets used for carrying liquids and granular products
Elaborate ceremonial or ritual buckets constructed of
bronze,
ivory or other materials, found in several ancient or medieval cultures, sometimes known by the Latin for bucket, situla
Large scoops or buckets attached to
loaders and
telehandlers for landscaping agricultural and purposes
Crusher buckets attached to excavators used for crushing and recycling material in the construction industry
Buckets shaped like
castles often used as children's toys to shape and carry sand on a
beach or in a
sandpit
Buckets in special shapes such as cast iron buckets or smelting buckets to hold liquid metal at high temperatures
Though not always bucket shaped,
lunch boxes are sometimes known as lunch pails or a lunch bucket. Buckets can be repurposed as seats, tool caddies, hydroponic gardens, chamber pots, "street" drums, or livestock feeders, amongst other uses. Buckets are also repurposed for the use of long term food storage by
survivalists.[3]
When in reference to a
shipping container, the term "pail" is used as a technical term, specifically referring to a bucket shaped package with a sealed top or lid, which is then used as a transport container for chemicals and industrial products.[4]
Gallery
Roman bronze situla from Germany, 2nd–3rd century
A wooden bucket
German 19th century leather firebuckets; the most common material used for buckets, alongside wood, before the invention of many modern materials was leather
A man carrying two buckets
A young lady carrying a bucket, drawing by German artist Heinrich Zille
The bucket has been used in many phrases and idioms in the
English language,[5] some of which are regional or specific to the use of English in different English-speaking countries.
Kick the bucket: an informal term referring to someone's death
Drop the bucket on: to implicate a person in something (from Australian slang)
^"Bucket". Merriam-Webster.
Archived from the original on 9 September 2013. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
^Flexner, Stuart; Hauck, epmpre, eds. (1993) [1987]. Random House Unabridged Dictionary p (hardcover) (second ed.). New York: Random House. p. 271.
ISBN0-679-42917-4.
^Durado, John (22 February 2017).
"Gamma Lids for Long Term Storage". Pyramid Reviews - Prepping for Life.
Archived from the original on 3 March 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.