n.
- a cylindrical open container with a handle, used to carry liquids.
▸a compartment on the outer edge of a waterwheel.
▸the scoop of a dredger or grain elevator, or one attached to the front of a digger or tractor.
-
(buckets)
informal large quantities of liquid.
v.
(buckets, bucketing, bucketed)
informal -
(bucket down)
Brit. rain heavily.
- (of a vehicle) move quickly and jerkily.
Derivative
- bucketful n.
(pl. bucketfuls)
.
Etymology
ME: from Anglo-Norman Fr. buquet ‘tub, pail’, perh. from OE būc ‘belly, pitcher’.