n.
    - a ship or large boat.
 - a hollow container used to hold liquid.
 - Anatomy  & Zoology  a duct or canal conveying blood or other fluid. 
▸Botany  any of the tubular structures in the vascular system of a plant, serving to conduct water and nutrients from the root.
 - (in or after biblical use) a person regarded as embodying a particular quality:
 she was inherently the weaker vessel.
 
 
  Etymology
  ME: from Anglo-Norman Fr. vessel(e), from late L. vascellum, dimin. of vas ‘vessel’.