Flask

Pronunciation

• enPR: fläsk, IPA: /flɑːsk/
• enPR: flăsk, IPA: /flæsk/
• Rhymes: -æsk

Origin

From Middle English flask ("cask, keg"), from flaske ("case"), from Anglo-Norman flascon, from Late Latin flascō ("bottle"), from Frankish *flasko (whence also Dutch fles), from Proto-Germanic *flaskǭ ("braid-covered bottle, wicker-enclosed jug") (whence also Old English flaxe, flasce, German Flasche), from Proto-Indo-European *ploḱ-skō ("flat") (whence also Lithuanian plókščias, Czech ploský).

Sense 2 from Italian fiasco and sense 3 from Middle French flasque ("powder flask"), itself from Old Spanish flasco, frasco, both from Late Latin above.

Full definition of flask

Noun

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.