pot

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See also: Pot, pōt, pǫt, pot-, and pót-

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
Cooking pot on a stove.

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English pot, potte, from Old English pott (“a pot”) and Old French pot ("pot"; probably from Frankish *pott); both Old English and Frankish from Proto-Germanic *puttaz (“pot”), from Proto-Indo-European *budnós (“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”), Old Armenian պոյտն (poytn, “pot, earthen pot”).

The sense of ruin or deterioration was originally euphemistic for shit (as in go to shit), from pot's use for its containers. The slang term for toilets and the lavatory similarly derive from the earlier chamberpots although now usually encountered as potty during children's toilet training.

Noun[edit]

pot (plural pots)

  1. A flat-bottomed vessel (usually metal) used for cooking food.
    Synonyms: cookpot, cooking pot
  2. Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly
    1. A vessel (usually earthenware) used with a seal for storing food, such as a honeypot.
    2. A vessel used for brewing or serving drinks: a coffee or teapot.
    3. A vessel used to hold soil for growing plants, particularly flowers: a flowerpot.
      • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 10, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
        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.
    4. (archaic except in fixed expressions) A vessel used for urination and defecation: a chamber pot; (figuratively, slang) a toilet; the lavatory.
      Synonyms: can, chamber pot, potty, shitpot; see also Thesaurus:chamber pot
      Shit or get off the pot.
      • 2011, Ben Zeller, Secrets of Beaver Creek, p. 204:
        “Clinton,” Gail cried from outside, “are you going to sit on the pot all day?”
    5. A crucible: a melting pot.
    6. A pot-shaped trap used for catching lobsters or other seafood: a lobster pot.
      Synonyms: lobster pot, lobster trap
    7. A pot-shaped metal or earthenware extension of a flue above the top of a chimney: a chimney pot.
    8. A perforated cask for draining sugar.
    9. (obsolete) An earthen or pewter cup or mug used for drinking liquor.
    10. (Australia, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania) A glass of beer in Australia whose size varies regionally but is typically around 10 fl oz (285 mL).
      Synonyms: middy (New South Wales, Western Australia), schooner (South Australia)
      • 2009, Deborah Penrith & al., Live & Work in Australia, p. 187:
        There are plenty of pubs and bars all over Australia (serving beer in schooners – 425ml or middies/pots ~285ml), and if you don′t fancy those you can drink in wine bars, pleasant beer gardens, or with friends at home.
  3. (archaic except in place names) Pothole, sinkhole, vertical cave e.g. Rowten Pot
  4. (slang) Ruin or deterioration.
    After his arrest, his prospects went to pot.
  5. (historical) An iron hat with a broad brim worn as a helmet.
    • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 12:
      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...
  6. (rail transport) A pot-shaped non-conducting (usually ceramic) stand that supports an electrified rail while insulating it from the ground.
  7. (gambling, poker) The money available to be won in a hand of poker or a round of other games of chance; (figuratively) any sum of money being used as an enticement.
    Synonyms: kitty, pool
    No one's interested. You need to sweeten the pot.
  8. (Britain, horse-racing, slang) A favorite: a heavily-backed horse.
  9. (billiards) The act of causing a ball to fall into a pocket in cue sports such as billiards.
    Synonym: winning hazard
  10. (slang) Clipping of potbelly: a pot-shaped belly, a paunch.
    • 1994, Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction:
      Fabienne: I wish I had a pot.
      Butch: You were lookin' in the mirror and you wish you had some pot?
      Fabienne: A pot. A pot belly. Pot bellies are sexy.
      Butch: Well you should be happy, 'cause you do.
      Fabienne: Shut up, Fatso! I don't have a pot! I have a bit of a tummy, like Madonna when she did "Lucky Star". It's not the same thing.
  11. (slang) Clipping of potshot: a haphazard shot; an easy or cheap shot.
    • 2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport:
      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.
  12. (chiefly East Midlands, Yorkshire) A plaster cast.
  13. (historical) Alternative form of pott: a former size of paper, 12.5 × 15 inches.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
potshot — see potshot
crucible — see crucible
size of paper — see pott
plaster cast — see plaster cast
See also[edit]

Verb[edit]

pot (third-person singular simple present pots, present participle potting, simple past and past participle potted)

  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. (transitive) To shoot with a firearm.
    • (Can we date this quote by Encyclopaedia of Sport and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      When hunted, it [the jaguar] takes refuge in trees, and this habit is well known to hunters, who pursue it with dogs and pot it when treed.
  6. (intransitive, dated) To take a pot shot, or haphazard shot, with a firearm.
  7. (transitive, colloquial) To secure; gain; win; bag.
  8. (Britain) To send someone to gaol, expeditiously.
  9. (obsolete, dialect, Britain) To tipple; to drink.
    • (Can we date this quote by Feltham and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
      It is less labour to plough than to pot it.
  10. (transitive) To drain (e.g. sugar of the molasses) in a perforated cask.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of B. Edwards to this entry?)
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
  11. (transitive, Britain) To seat a person, usually a young child, on a potty or toilet, typically during toilet teaching.
    • 1975, Nancie R. Finnie, Handling the Young Cerebral Palsied Child, →ISBN, page 75:
      Ideally the best Ideally the best way of tackling the problem of toilet training, is to 'pot' your child at set intervals when he is at home, even though he may no longer be a baby, thus establishing a regular routine instead of one at odd intervals.
    • 1978, Penelope Leach, Your Baby & Child from Birth to Age Five, →ISBN, page 225:
      If you leave out this “catching" stage altogether and start proper toilet training at, say, eighteen months you will only have to pot your baby about 2000 times for the same effect.
    • 2004, Joan Gomez, Coping with Incontinence, →ISBN, page 33:
      Do not make the mistake of potting your baby as early as possible, but wait until she gives the signal that she is aware that puddles are somehow to do with her.
    • 2012, Nanny Smith & Nina Grunfeld, Nanny Knows Best: Successful Potty Training, →ISBN:
      Of course, if at any stage your child takes a violent dislike to the pot, then I would put it away for a few weeks and then try again, but if the pot is very comfortable, your attitude is calm and you don't over-pot your child (put him on the pot too often or talk about the pot too much), this shouldn't happen.
  12. (chiefly East Midlands) To apply a plaster cast to a broken limb.
Translations[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2[edit]

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[edit]

pot (uncountable)

  1. (slang, uncountable) Marijuana
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Clipping of potentiometer.

Noun[edit]

pot (plural pots)

  1. (slang, electronics) A simple electromechanical device used to control resistance or voltage (often to adjust sound volume) in an electronic device by rotating or sliding when manipulated by a human thumb, screwdriver, etc.
Derived terms[edit]
  • slide pot, a sliding (linear) potentiometer typically designed to be manipulated by a thumb or finger
  • thumb pot, a rotating potentiometer designed to be turned by a thumb or finger

Etymology 4[edit]

Clipping of potion.

Noun[edit]

pot (plural pots)

  1. (role-playing games) Clipping of potion.

References[edit]

  • “pot” in the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, 1974 edition.
  • “pot” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2020.

Anagrams[edit]

Afrikaans[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Dutch pot, from Middle Dutch pot.

Noun[edit]

pot (plural potte)

  1. pot; jar

Albanian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Romance *pottus (“pot”).

Noun[edit]

pot m (indefinite plural pota, definite singular poti, definite plural potat)

  1. mill-hopper, flower-bin
  2. little boy

Related terms[edit]

Aromanian[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From a Vulgar Latin *poteō, from Latin possum (formed analogically in post-Classical Latin on the basis of potens, the present participle of possum). Compare Romanian putea, pot.

Verb[edit]

pot (third-person singular present indicative poati / poate, past participle pututã)

  1. I can, could, am able to.

Related terms[edit]

Basque[edit]

Noun[edit]

pot

  1. kiss

Catalan[edit]

Verb[edit]

pot

  1. third-person singular present indicative form of poder

Czech[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Slavic *potъ (“sweat”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

pot m, inanimate

  1. sweat

Declension[edit]

Declension
singular plural
nominative pot poty
genitive potu potů
dative potu potům
accusative pot poty
vocative pote poty
locative potu potech
instrumental potem poty

Related terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Dutch[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle Dutch pot, from Proto-Germanic *puttaz (“pot”). Cognate with English pot (“pot”)

Noun[edit]

pot m (plural potten, diminutive potje n)

  1. jar, pot
  2. (Belgium) cooking pot
    Synonym: kookpot
  3. (Netherlands, vulgar) loo, crapper (toilet)
Derived terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
  • Afrikaans: pot

Etymology 2[edit]

Clipping of lollepot.

Noun[edit]

pot f (plural potten, diminutive potje n)

  1. (derogatory) dyke (lesbian)
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb[edit]

pot

  1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of potten
  2. imperative of potten

Anagrams[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle French pot, from Old French pot (“pot”), from Vulgar Latin pottum, pottus (“pot, jar”), from Proto-Germanic *puttaz (“pot, jar, tub”), from Proto-Indo-European *budn- (“a kind of vessel”). More at pot.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

pot m (plural pots)

  1. pot, jar, vase, tin, can, carton (container of any of various materials)
    (with à indicates intended use): pot à épices — spice jar
    (with de indicates either actual/current use...): pot d’eau — vase of water
    (...or material): pot de verre — (glass) jar
  2. cooking pot (any vessel used to cook food)
  3. (cooking) dish
  4. (childish) potty (the pot used when toilet-training children)
  5. (colloquial) drink, jar, bevvy (alcoholic beverage)
  6. (colloquial) do (UK), bash, drinks party (small, informal party or celebration)
  7. (card games) pot, kitty, pool (money staked at cards, etc.)
  8. (informal) luck (success; chance occurrence, especially when favourable)
  9. (oenology) half-litre bottle or measure of wine
  10. pre-metric unit of measure, equivalent to 1.5 litres
  11. paper size, about 40 by 31 cm
  12. (slang, vulgar) arse, ass (buttocks)
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From English pot.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

pot m (uncountable)

  1. (Canada) pot, weed (cannabis, marijuana)

References[edit]

  • Nouveau Petit Larousse illustré. Dictionnaire encyclopédique. Paris, Librairie Larousse, 1952, 146th edition

Further reading[edit]

Middle Dutch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Unknown.

Noun[edit]

pot m

  1. pot, jar
  2. can, jug

Inflection[edit]

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • “pot (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000

Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “pot”, in Middelniederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Middle English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old English pott and Old French pot, both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *puttaz, from Proto-Indo-European *budnós.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

pot (plural pottes)

  1. A pot; a circular receptacle or vessel:
    1. A cookpot; a pot used for cooking in.
    2. A pot used for storing substances (especially food or water)
    3. A pot used for ladling or serving liquids; a beaker.
    4. A measurement for the quantity of liquids.
    5. A pot of a certain material or manufacture:
      1. A ceramic pot or vessel.
      2. A pot or vessel made out of metal.
  2. (rare) The top of the skull.
  3. (rare) A shard of earthen material.

Related terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

References[edit]

Norman[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old French pot (“pot”), from Vulgar Latin pottum, pottus (“pot, jar”), from Proto-Germanic *puttaz (“pot, jar, tub”), from Proto-Indo-European *budn- (“a kind of vessel”).

Noun[edit]

pot m (plural pots)

  1. (Jersey) pot

Derived terms[edit]

Old French[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Vulgar Latin pottum, pottus (“pot, jar”), from Proto-Germanic *puttaz (“pot, jar, tub”), from Proto-Indo-European *budn- (“a kind of vessel”). More at pot.

Noun[edit]

pot m (oblique plural poz or potz, nominative singular poz or potz, nominative plural pot)

  1. pot (storage/cooking vessel)
Descendants[edit]

References[edit]

  • Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (pot, supplement)

Etymology 2[edit]

see poeir.

Verb[edit]

pot

  1. third-person singular present indicative of poeir
Descendants[edit]

Polish[edit]

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Slavic *potъ (“sweat”)

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

pot m inan

  1. sweat

Declension[edit]

declension of pot
singular plural
nominative pot poty
genitive potu potów
dative potowi potom
accusative pot poty
instrumental potem potami
locative pocie potach
vocative pocie poty

Derived terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • pot in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • pot in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

pot

  1. first-person singular present indicative of putea
    te pot vedea, prostule. ― I can see you, idiot.
  2. first-person singular present subjunctive of putea
    am să pot să merg cu tine mâine dimineață ― I'll be able to go with you tomorrow morning.
  3. third-person plural present indicative of putea
    calmează-te, nu pot să-ți străbată gândul. ― calm down, they can't read your mind.

Serbo-Croatian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Slavic *potъ.

Noun[edit]

pȍt m (Cyrillic spelling по̏т)

  1. sweat
    Synonym: znȏj

Slovene[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Proto-Slavic *pǫtь.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

pọ́t f

  1. way, road
Inflection[edit]
Feminine, i-stem, mobile accent
nom. sing. pót
gen. sing. potí
singular dual plural
nominative pót potí potí
accusative pót potí potí
genitive potí potí potí
dative póti potéma potém
locative póti potéh potéh
instrumental potjó potéma potmí

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Etymology 2[edit]

From Proto-Slavic *potъ.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

pọ̑t m inan

  1. sweat
Inflection[edit]
Masculine inan., hard o-stem, mobile accent
nominative pót
genitive potú
singular
nominative pót
accusative pót
genitive potú
dative pótu
locative pótu
instrumental pótom
Masculine inan., hard o-stem
nominative pót
genitive póta
singular
nominative pót
accusative pót
genitive póta
dative pótu
locative pótu
instrumental pótom

Tatar[edit]

Noun[edit]

pot

  1. (archaic) A unit of volume: 1 pot, the volume of 16 kg of water.
  2. (archaic) A unit of weight: 1 pot = 40 qadaq = 16.380 kg .

Declension[edit]

    declension of pot
Nominative pot
Genitive potnıñ
Dative potqa
Accusative potnı
Locative potta
Ablative pottan

See also[edit]

Tok Pisin[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English port.

Noun[edit]

pot

  1. port
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