Keeve

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A large open container or vessel used to hold liquids, especially in brewing, dyeing, or other industrial processes
2. A big tub or vat designed to store or work with large quantities of liquid in manufacturing or craft work
3. A capacious barrel-like or trough-shaped container employed to hold significant volumes of fluid in various trades

Etymology: Keeve is an old word for a large tub or vat, used especially for fermenting or brewing, and it has a surprising family of relatives. It descends from Old English "cȳf," meaning vat, which in turn came from a Proto-West Germanic diminutive form, "kūbiju," built on an older Germanic base that may trace back to Latin "cūpa," a word for a cask or tub. The same root gave English "cup" and "hive," and it lies behind French "cuve," meaning vat. Words like "coupe," a doublet of keeve, arrived in English by a different route, so the family has spread out over many centuries. Hive is perhaps the most striking relative. A beehive was once simply a container of woven straw or wicker, shaped like the vessel a keeve was, so a bee's home and a brewer's tub shared a name because both were rounded containers. The root that gave us the tub thus ended up housing bees.