• Pot

    Pronunciation

    • UK enPR: pŏt, IPA: /pÉ’t/
    • Rhymes: -É’t
    • US enPR: pät, IPA: /pÉ‘t/

    Origin 1

    From Middle English pot, potte, from Old English pott ("a pot"), from Proto-Germanic *puttaz ("pot"), from Proto-Indo-European *budn- ("a type of vessel"). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Pot ("pot"), Dutch pot ("pot"), Low German Pott ("pot"), German Pott ("pot"), Swedish pott ("pot"), Icelandic pottur ("tub, pot").

    Full definition of pot

    Noun

    pot

    (plural pots)
    1. A vessel used for cooking or storing food, or for growing plants in, especially flowers.
      • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 10, He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.
    2. (poker) The money wagered in poker or similar games.
    3. A trap for catching lobsters, crabs, eels, or fish.
    4. (archaic) An iron hat with a broad brim.
      • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, The pot is an iron hat with broad brims: there are many under the denomination in the Tower, said to have been taken from the French; one of them is represented in plat 7, fig. 1 and 2.
    5. (Australia, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania) A glass of beer, of a size that varies regionally but is normally 10 fl oz (285 ml).
    6. A potshot.
      • 2011, October 1, Tom Fordyce, Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland, England were shipping penalties at an alarming rate - five in the first 15 minutes alone - and with Wilkinson missing three long-distance pots of his own in the first 20 minutes, the alarm bells began to ring for Martin Johnson's men.
    7. (slang) A protruding belly; a paunch.
    8. (slang) Ruin or deterioration.
      His prospects went to pot.
    9. (sports, billiards, snooker, pool) The act of causing a ball to fall into a pocket.
    10. (slang) A potentiometer.
    11. (rail transport) A non-conducting, usually ceramic, stand that supports the third rail while keeping it electrically insulated from the ground.
    12. (obsolete) An earthen or pewter cup for liquors; a mug.
    13. A metal or earthenware extension of a flue above the top of a chimney; a chimney pot.
    14. A crucible.a graphite pot; a melting pot
    15. A perforated cask for draining sugar.
    16. A size of paper; pott.
    17. (slang) toilet
      • 2011, Ben Zeller, Secrets of Beaver Creek (page 204)“Clinton,” Gail cried from outside, “are you going to sit on the pot all day?”

    Synonyms

    • (cooking vessel)
    • (money wagered in a card game)
    • (trap for crustaceans or fish)
    • (285ml glass of beer) middy New South Wales, Western Australia, schooner South Australia
    • (potshot)
    • (protruding belly) beer belly
    • (ruin, deterioration)
    • (in English billiards) winning hazard
    • (potentiometer)
    • (non-conducting stand for a third rail)

    Derived terms

    Terms derived from pot

    Verb

    1. To put (something) into a pot.to pot a plant
    2. To preserve by bottling or canning.potted meat
    3. (cue sports) To cause a ball to fall into a pocket.
    4. (cue sports) To be capable of being potted.The black ball doesn't pot; the red is in the way.
    5. To shoot.
    6. (British) To send someone to gaol, expeditiously.
    7. (obsolete, dialect, UK) To tipple; to drink.
      • FelthamIt is less labour to plough than to pot it.
    8. (transitive) To drain.to pot sugar, by taking it from the cooler, and placing it in hogsheads, etc. with perforated heads, through which the molasses drains off

    Origin 2

    Possibly a shortened form of Mexican Spanish potiguaya ("marijuana leaves") or potaguaya ("cannabis leaves") or potación de guaya literally ‘drink of grief’, supposedly denoting a drink of wine or brandy in which marijuana buds were steeped.

    Noun

    pot

    (uncountable)
    1. (slang, uncountable) The drug marijuana.

    Synonyms

    Derived terms

    Anagrams

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