pot.
A flat-bottomed vessel (usually metal) used for cooking food, possibly excluding saucepans (see usage notes).
Meaning & usage
A flat-bottomed vessel (usually metal) used for cooking food, possibly excluding saucepans (see usage notes).
A flat-bottomed vessel (usually metal) used for cooking food, possibly excluding saucepans (see usage notes). The nominal household cooking vessel, metaphorically standing for the supply of food for a meal, or for the home.
Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly A vessel (usually earthenware) used with a seal for storing food, such as a honeypot.
Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly A vessel used for brewing or serving drinks: a coffee pot or teapot.
Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly A vessel used to hold soil for growing plants, particularly flowers: a flowerpot.
Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly A vessel used for urination and defecation: a chamber pot; (figuratively, slang) a toilet; the lavatory.
Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly A crucible: a melting pot.
Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly A pot-shaped trap used for catching lobsters or other seafood: a lobster pot.
Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly A pot-shaped metal or earthenware extension of a flue above the top of a chimney: a chimney pot.
Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly A perforated cask for draining sugar.
Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly An earthen or pewter cup or mug used for drinking liquor.
Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly A glass of beer in Australia whose size varies regionally but is typically around 10 fl oz (285 mL).
Pothole, sinkhole, vertical cave.
A shallow hole used in certain games played with marbles. The marbles placed in it are called potsies.
Ruin or deterioration.
After his arrest, his prospects went to pot.
Any of various traditional units of volume notionally based on the capacity of a pot.
An iron hat with a broad brim worn as a helmet.
A pot-shaped non-conducting (usually ceramic) stand that supports an electrified rail while insulating it from the ground.
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.
No one's interested. You need to sweeten the pot.
An allocation of money for a particular purpose.
a pension pot
a savings pot
A favorite: a heavily-backed horse.
Clipping of potbelly (“a pot-shaped belly, a paunch”).
Clipping of potshot (“a haphazard shot; an easy or cheap shot”).
A plaster cast.
Alternative form of pott: a former size of paper, 12.5 × 15 inches.
Where this word comes from
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.
To put (something) into a pot.
to pot a plant
To preserve by bottling or canning.
potted meat
To package a circuit by encasing it in resin.
To cause a ball to fall into a pocket.
To be capable of being potted.
The black ball doesn't pot; the red is in the way.
To shoot with a firearm.
To take a potshot, or haphazard shot, with a firearm.
To secure; gain; win; bag.
To send someone to jail, expeditiously.
To tipple; to drink.
To drain (e.g. sugar of the molasses) in a perforated cask.
To seat a person, usually a young child, on a potty or toilet, typically during toilet teaching.
To apply a plaster cast to a broken limb.
To catch (a fish, eel, etc) via a pot.
To score (a drop goal).
Where this word comes from
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.
Marijuana.
Where this word comes from
Possibly a shortened form of Mexican Spanish potiguaya 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, from pota + de + guaya (see guayar (“to lament”)).
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.
Where this word comes from
Clipping of potentiometer.
To fade volume in or out by means of a potentiometer.
Where this word comes from
Clipping of potentiometer.
Clipping of potion.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Latin pōtiōder. Old French pocionbor. Middle English pocioun English potionclip. English pot Clipping of potion.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.