flask
/flɑːsk
/noun
1A container for liquids, in particular:One of the flasks holds an oily liquid approximating to coffee while the other holds almost-boiling water that might nearly brew a half-strength cup of extra-weak tea....
- With a few gurgling noises created from his throat, and, evidently, some mucus, he filled the glass to a quarter inch below the brim with the liquid in the flask.
- He uncorked it, and poured the clear liquid into the flask.
Synonyms
bottle, container, vessel;
hip flask, vacuum flask
trademark Thermos
1.1A narrow-necked glass container, typically conical or spherical, used in a laboratory to hold reagents or samples.Levengood tested the metal fragment for the presence of hydrogen by putting a sample in a flask with a weak solution of acetic acid....
- The GA solution was dried in a rotor evaporator and then incubated under vacuum overnight in a reagent flask.
- They put methane, ammonia and carbon dioxide in a flask with some water, sparked some electricity through it, and after a week they got a brown sludge which contained amino acids.
1.2A narrow-necked bulbous glass container, typically with a covering of wickerwork, for storing wine or oil.The Tuscan origins of this fiaschetteria (where wine in straw flasks was sold) are honoured in a range of Chianina steak dishes and in a wine list which is strong on Chiantis and Brunellos....
- When there's no more wine in the flask at my table my friends are happy to drink my water.
- One parcel, wrapped in cloth, contained bread, cheese, and a small flask of wine.
1.3British A vacuum flask.He got up at six, packed his car with hot-water bottle, shovel, flask and blanket, and took three hours to drive 12 miles....
- This time the modern-day Lady workers were enjoying a string concert and a glass or two of wine (though I suspect some people smuggled in flasks of rosehip tea).
- At 8.45 I shall make flasks of strong, black coffee and also have chilled mineral water on hand in case of dehydration.
1.4A hip flask.At the summit, while taking celebratory sips of whiskey from my Kansas City Chiefs flask, we were approached by an athletic couple from Colorado....
- Cleo had wandered to the sofa and was pulling a flask from her small silver shoulder purse.
- Between the folds of the bottom towel in the linen closet, he retrieved a silver flask and took several greedy swallows.
1.5The contents of a flask: a flask of coffee...
- We have even found a hot flask of coffee there, so the person certainly wasn't far away.
- Sitting alone on the stage with only his trademark flask of tea and his pipe for company, the old boy positively exudes optimism.
- And behind any club at night you will find gangs of sophisticated and gorgeous thirty-somethings swigging guiltily from an illicit flask of vodka.
2An extremely strong lead-lined container for transporting or storing radioactive nuclear waste.Large, who advises governments on nuclear hazards, pointed out that the tests which are designed to ensure the safety of nuclear transport flasks had no scientific basis....
- ‘Our worst fear is that these trains could be targeted by terrorists who could create the effect of a dirty bomb by blowing up the flasks, sending radioactive material into the atmosphere,’ he said.
- It also said the nuclear flasks were tested to withstand temperatures of 800-deg C, though fires have been known to reach 1,500-deg C.
3 historical short for powder flask.Sitting on top of shellfish remains were 20 empty gunpowder flasks and loose flask caps.
Origin
Middle English (in the sense 'cask'): from medieval Latin flasca. From the mid 16th century the word denoted a case of horn, leather, or metal for carrying gunpowder. The sense 'glass container' (late 17th century) was influenced by Italian fiasco, from medieval Latin flasco. Compare with flagon.
fiasco from mid 19th century:
A fiasco is a ridiculous or humiliating failure. The word was borrowed from Italian in the 19th century. In that language it meant originally ‘a bottle’, but the phrase far fiasco, literally ‘make a bottle’, was used in the theatre to mean ‘fail in a performance’. In medieval English a flask (Middle English) was a cask or skin for holding liquor. The word came from medieval Latin flasca (along with LME flagon) but the 17th-century sense ‘glass container’ was influenced by Italian fiasco.