flask

See also: fläsk

English

A French stoneware pilgrim flask.
Three Erlenmeyer flasks.
Hip flask.

Etymology

From Middle English flask, flaske (“case, cask, keg”), from Old English flasce, flaxe (“bottle, flask”) and Medieval Latin flascō (“bottle”); from Frankish *flaskā; both from Proto-Germanic *flaskǭ (“braid-covered bottle, wicker-enclosed jug”), from Proto-Indo-European *ploḱ-skō (“flat”), or from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- (“to weave”). Doublet of fiasco, flacon, and flagon.

Related to Dutch fles; also German Low German Flaske, Fless, German Flasche, Danish flaske; also Lithuanian plókščias, Czech ploský, Albanian flashkët.

The sense “laboratory glassware” is from Italian fiasco, and the sense “container for holding a casting mold” is from Middle French flasque (“powder flask”), itself from Old Spanish flasco, frasco, both from Late Latin above.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: fläsk, IPA(key): /ˈflɑːsk/
  • (Northern England, Scotland) IPA(key): /flask/
  • (General American) enPR: flăsk, IPA(key): /ˈflæsk/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -æsk

Noun

flask (plural flasks)

  1. A narrow-necked vessel of metal or glass, used for various purposes; as of sheet metal, to carry gunpowder in; or of wrought iron, to contain quicksilver; or of glass, to heat water in, etc.
  2. A container used to discreetly carry a small amount of a hard alcoholic beverage; a pocket flask.
  3. (sciences) Laboratory glassware used to hold larger volumes than test tubes, normally having a narrow mouth of a standard size which widens to a flat or spherical base.
  4. (engineering) A container for holding a casting mold, especially for sand casting molds.
  5. A bed in a gun carriage.
    (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
  6. A nuclear flask, a large, secure lead-lined container for the transport of nuclear material.
    • 2023 December 27, Ben Jones, “Inside Sellafield... by rail”, in RAIL, number 999, page 21:
      Over the years, the railway has been the safest way to move hazardous chemicals, radioactive waste, fuel for Royal Navy nuclear submarines and imported fuel for reprocessing, as well as flasks containing fuel rods to and from British power stations.
  7. (Newfoundland) A small bottle of liquor.

Derived terms

Descendants

  • → Irish: fleasc
  • → Welsh: fflasg

Translations

Verb

flask (third-person singular simple present flasks, present participle flasking, simple past and past participle flasked)

  1. (dentistry) To invest a denture in a flask so as to produce a sectional mold.

Anagrams

Danish

Verb

flask

  1. imperative of flaske

Dutch

Etymology

From French flasque (“flask”). Doublet with (native) fles (“bottle”), (through French) flacon (“flagon”) and (through Italian) fiasco (“fiasco”).

Noun

flask f (plural flasken, diminutive flaskje n)

  1. flask

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English flasce, flaxe and Anglo-Norman flascon, both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *flaskā, from Proto-Germanic *flaskǭ.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈflask(ə)/

Noun

flask (plural flaskes) (rare)

  1. A small barrel for beer storage.
  2. A container for the storage of garments.

Descendants

References

Old Frisian

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *flaiski. Cognates include Old English flǣsċ and Old Saxon flēsk.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈflaːsk/

Noun

flāsk n

  1. flesh

Descendants

References

  • Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009), An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 28
This page is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.