Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A large vessel, such as a tub, cistern, or barrel, used to hold or store liquids.
  • transitive verb To put into or treat in a vat.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An abbreviation of Vatican.
  • noun A large tub, vessel, or cistern, especially one for holding liquors in an immature state, as chemical preparations for dyeing or for tanning leather.
  • noun A liquid measure in the Netherlands, corresponding to the hectoliter—about 22 imperial gallons.
  • noun In metallurgy: A vessel used in the wet treatment of ores, A square hollow place on the back of a calcining-furnace, in which tin ore is laid for the purpose of being dried
  • To put in a vat; treat in a vat.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To put or transfer into a vat.
  • noun A large vessel, cistern, or tub, especially one used for holding liquors in an immature state, chemical preparations for dyeing, or for tanning, or for tanning leather, or the like.
  • noun A measure for liquids, and also a dry measure; especially, a liquid measure in Belgium and Holland, corresponding to the hectoliter of the metric system, which contains 22.01 imperial gallons, or 26.4 standard gallons in the United States.
  • noun A wooden tub for washing ores and mineral substances in.
  • noun A square, hollow place on the back of a calcining furnace, where tin ore is laid to dry.
  • noun (R. C. Ch.) A vessel for holding holy water.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A large tub, such as is used for making wine or for tanning.
  • verb transitive To blend (wines or spirits) in a vat.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a large open vessel for holding or storing liquids
  • noun a tax levied on the difference between a commodity's price before taxes and its cost of production

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, variant of fat, from Old English fæt.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, a variant of fat, from Old English fæt ("vat, vessel"). Cognate with Old Norse fat ("luggage, pail") (Danish fad, Icelandic fat), German Fass, Dutch vat, West Frisian fet. More at fat.

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Examples

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  • Gustav Klimt milk vats — ug!

    October 18, 2008