Word: pot Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *puttaz Old English pott Proto-Germanic *puttaz Frankish *pottder. Vulgar Latin pottum Old French potbor. Middle English pot English pot From Middle English pot, potte, from Old English pott (“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”), German Low German Pott (“pot”), German Pott (“pot”), Swedish potta (“chamber pot”), Icelandic pottur (“tub, pot”), Old Armenian պոյտն (poytn, “pot, earthen pot”). Also, Old Norse pottr (“pot, tub, basin”). The sense of ruin or deterioration was originally a general allusion to "being chopped up and tossed in a (normally fiery) pot, like a piece of meat" (i.e. to get wasted or done with (by someone)). The 'clean' slang term which was used in reference to toilet rooms and lavatories apparently derives from English chamberpots, although now usually encountered as potty in the context of children's toilet training. Pronunciation: /pɒt/, /pɑt/ 1. A flat-bottomed vessel (usually metal) used for cooking food, possibly excluding saucepans (see usage notes). 2. A flat-bottomed vessel (usually metal) used for cooking food, possibly excluding saucepans (see usage notes). Example: Hunting in the year 1000 was still a democratic pastime. Every free-born Anglo-Saxon had the right to enter the forest and bring home game for the pot. 3. Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly 4. Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly 5. Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly Example: 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. 6. Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly Example: Shit or get off the pot. Example: “Clinton,” Gail cried from outside, “are you going to sit on the pot all day?” 7. Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly 8. Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly Labels: Maine 9. Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly 10. Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly 11. Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly Labels: obsolete Example: "So kindly keep the vainglorious enumeration of your pots for the benefit of those village idiots who compose your particular set of boozing companions." 12. Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly Labels: Australia, Tasmania Example: 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. 13. Pothole, sinkhole, vertical cave. Example: Rowten Pot 14. A shallow hole used in certain games played with marbles. The marbles placed in it are called potsies. 15. Ruin or deterioration. Labels: slang, uncountable Example: After his arrest, his prospects went to pot. 16. Any of various traditional units of volume notionally based on the capacity of a pot. Labels: historical 17. An iron hat with a broad brim worn as a helmet. Labels: historical Example: 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... 18. A pot-shaped non-conducting (usually ceramic) stand that supports an electrified rail while insulating it from the ground. 19. 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. Example: No one's interested. You need to sweeten the pot. 20. An allocation of money for a particular purpose. Example: a pension pot Example: a savings pot 21. A favorite: a heavily-backed horse. Labels: UK, slang 22. Clipping of potbelly (“a pot-shaped belly, a paunch”). Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, slang Example: 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. 23. Clipping of potshot (“a haphazard shot; an easy or cheap shot”). Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, slang Example: 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. 24. A plaster cast. Labels: East-Midlands, Yorkshire 25. Alternative form of pott: a former size of paper, 12.5 × 15 inches. Labels: alt-of, alternative, historical