Water well bucketsAnEdo periodJapanese bucket used to hold water for fire fighting
Abucket is typically a watertight, verticalcylinder ortruncatedcone or square, with an open top and a flat bottom, attached to a semicircular carryinghandle called thebail.[1][2]
A bucket is usually an open-top container. In contrast, apail can have a top or lid and is ashipping container. In non-technical usage, the two terms are often used interchangeably.
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 ofbronze,ivory or other materials, found in several ancient or medieval cultures, sometimes known by the Latin for bucket,situla
Large scoops or buckets attached toloaders andtelehandlers for landscaping agricultural and purposes
Canvas buckets made of woven fabric, developed as a fire-resistant alternative to leather[3]
Crusher buckets attached to excavators used for crushing and recycling material in the construction industry
Buckets shaped likecastles often used as children's toys to shape and carry sand on abeach or in asandpit
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 bysurvivalists.[4]
When in reference to ashipping 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.[5]
The bucket has been used in many phrases and idioms in theEnglish language,[6] 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. Retrieved23 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.
