Vessel Meaning

/ˈvɛsəl/
B2

Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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nounA craft for transportation on or in water, air, or space.

nounA craft for transportation on or in water, air, or space., Any craft designed for transportation on or in water, such as a ship, boat, or submarine.

A child is not a vessel for filling, but a fire to light.
The vessel was loaded with coal, lumber, and so on.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The large ____ sailed across the ocean carrying heavy goods to the country.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The large ____ was seen approaching the harbor early this morning, carrying thousands of tons of heavy cargo today.

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *wāss Late Latin vās Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Italic *-elom Late Latin -ulum Late Latin -culum Late Latin vāsculum Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Late Latin -lus Late Latin vāscellum Old French vaisselbor. Middle English vessel English vessel Inherited from Middle English vessel, vessell (“small container”); from Old French vaissel (compare modern French vaisseau and Catalan vaixell), from Late Latin vāscellum, diminutive of vāsculum, diminutive of vās (“vase, vessel”).

"But my hope was, that if I stood along this coast till I came to that part where the English traded, I should find some of their vessels upon their usual design of trade, that would relieve and take us in." — 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:
"Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels, skippers, […] naval officers of all countries, and the Governments of several states on the two continents, were deeply interested in the matter." — 1873, Jules Verne, chapter I, in [anonymous], transl., Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas; […], James R. Osgood edition, Boston, Mass.: Geo[rge] M[urray] Smith & Co., →OCLC, part I, page 3:
"He saw now clearly that the sole crew of the vessel was these two dead men, and though he could not see their faces, he saw by their outstretched hands, which were all of ragged flesh, that they had been subjected to some strange exceptional process of decay." — 1905, H. G. Wells, The Empire of the Ants:
"Conditions were horrendous aboard most British naval vessels at the time. Scurvy and other diseases ran rampant, killing more seamen each year than all other causes combined, including combat." — 2012 March 26, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 87:
"Driven from their home system by the geth nearly three centuries ago, most quarians now live aboard the Migrant Fleet, a flotilla of fifty thousand vessels ranging in size from passenger shuttles to mobile space stations." — 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Quarians Codex entry:

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CEFR Practice Quiz
The large ____ sailed across the ocean carrying heavy goods to the country.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The large ____ was seen approaching the harbor early this morning, carrying thousands of tons of heavy cargo today.

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