vial

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“
Underneath the vial was a slip of paper, on which was written I have staked my highest card--and lost!

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Definitions (13)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A small container, usually with a closure, used especially for liquids.
  2. transitive verb To put or keep in or as if in a vial.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (8)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • So that night she came to me with the vial, and she wore a translucent nightdress. —  Question Quest
  • The guard paused only long enough to make sure the vial was empty. —  Serpents's Silver
  • He plucked the vial from the Frenchman's hand and sniffed it delicately. —  Chance, Karen - Touch the Dark
  • For a moment, as she slid her hand around the cramped hiding place, she thought the vial was missing, but then her grasp closed on the tiny blown-glass bulb. —  F ;SF - vol 104 issue 06 - June 2003
  • On it sat a small clutch purse and a glass vial, the kind used for holding the sort of pills you don't get from a doctor. —  EQMM,February2008
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This word has been looked up 81 times.

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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English viole, variant of fiol; see phial.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Formerly also viall, viol, violl, altered terminally to accord with the L. spelling and with phial; from Middle English viole, fiole, fyole, from Old French viole, an irreg. variant of fiole, phiole (French fiole), properly *fiale = Italian fiala, from Latin phiala, Middle Latin fiala, from Greek φιάλη, a shallow cup or bowl, especially a drinking-bowl or a bowl for libations, a patera, a cinerary urn. Cf. phial, a later form, after the L. spelling.
  2. from vial, n.
 

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/ˈvaɪəl/
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