Ves"sel , v. t. To put into a vessel. [Obs.]
Bacon.
Ves"sel , n. [OF. vessel, veissel,
vaissel, vaissiel, F. vascellum, dim. of vasculum, dim. of vas a vessel. Cf. Vascular,
Vase.]
1. A hollow or concave utensil for holding anything; a hollow receptacle of any kind, as a hogshead, a barrel, a firkin, a bottle, a kettle, a cup,
a bowl, etc.
[They drank] out of these
noble vessels.
Chaucer. 2. A general name for any hollow structure made to float
upon the water for purposes of navigation; especially, one that is larger than a common
rowboat; as, a war vessel; a passenger vessel.
[He] began to build a vessel of huge bulk.
Milton. 3. Fig.: A person regarded as receiving or containing something; esp. (Script.), one into whom something is conceived as poured, or in
whom something is stored for
use; as, vessels of wrath or mercy.
He
is a chosen
vessel unto me.
Acts ix. 15.
[The serpent]
fit vessel, fittest imp of fraud,
in whom
To enter.
Milton. 4. (Anat.) Any tube or canal in which the blood or other fluids are contained,
secreted, or circulated, as the arteries, veins, lymphatics, etc.
5. (Bot.) A continuous tube formed from superposed large cylindrical
or prismatic cells
(tracheæ), which have lost their intervening partitions, and
are usually marked with dots, pits, rings, or spirals
by internal deposition of secondary membranes; a duct.
Acoustic
vessels. See under
Acoustic. -- Weaker vessel, a woman; -- now applied humorously. "Giving
honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel." 1 Peter iii.
7. "You are the weaker vessel."
Shak.
Hear it pronounced