Cask

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /kɑːsk/

Definitions

1. A significant storage vessel usually crafted from wood or metal, primarily intended for holding liquids
2. An adaptable, barrel-shaped container commonly utilized for aging and storing beverages
3. A large cylindrical container, traditionally made of wood, used to hold and sometimes age liquids like wine or spirits

Etymology: "Cask" arrived in English from Middle French "casque", a word for a container for liquid. Its sister words are "casco" and "casque": the Spanish "casco", meaning a hull or skull, and the French "casque", meaning helmet. Such pairs are called doublets: two words descended from the same ancestor that entered a language by different routes and took on different shapes and senses. The shared idea behind the family is a hollow shell. The helmet and the skull are hard, curved coverings, while the barrel is a hollow vessel of curved staves. Over the centuries the three words drifted apart, so that a modern English speaker would hardly guess a helmet and a barrel were once close relatives.

Synonyms: barrel, keg, container, vat, drum