vase

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“
Before the division took place Clovis begged that the vase might be accorded to him.

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Definitions (35)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun An open container, as of glass or porcelain, used for holding flowers or for ornamentation.

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This word has been looked up 204 times.

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French, from Latin vās, vessel.

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  1. Formerly also vause, earlier as L., in the plural vasa, used with added English plural, vasa's; = Dutch vaas = German vase = Danish vase = SW. vas, from French vase, Old French vase, vaze—Spanish Portuguese vaso = Italian vase, vaso, from Latin vas, also vasum (rarely vasus), plural vasa, neuter, a vessel, also an implement or utensil, plural equipments, baggage; cf. Sanskrit vasa-na, a receptacle, box, basket, jar, vāsas, a garment, from √ vas, put on, clothe (cover): see vest and wear. Hence ult. vessel, extravasate. According to the F. pron. (väz), and to the time when the word vase appears to have been taken into English (between 1660 and 1700), the reg. English pron. would be vāz, with a tendency to make it conform to the apparent analogy of base, case, etc.—that is, to pronounce it vās. At the same time, the recency of the word, and its association with art, have tended to encourage the attempts to pronounce it as F., namely väz, in the 18th century absurdly rendered also as vâz, the word being found accordingly in the spelling vause. In the latter part, of the 18th century the word was pronounced vas by Sheridan, Scott, Ken-rick, Perry, Buchanan, vāz by Walker (who says he has “uniformly heard it pronounced” so), Smith, Johnston, and vàz by Elphinston, the last pronunciation, vâz, being used, according to Walker, “sometimes by people of refinement; but this, being too refined for the general ear, is now but seldom heard” (though Ellis says (in 1874) that it is the most familiar to him). The pron. väz, now affected by many, is a more successful attempt to imitate the present F. pronunciation. In the 18th century the sound ä in foreign words, except before r, was almost always rendered â by English speakers (cf. spa, often written spaw, pron. spâ, German ja, written yaw (yâ), etc.).
 

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/veɪs/
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