Potfuls

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A substantial amount of substance or food held within cooking containers, including several portions encapsulated in pots
2. The quantity of material or food that a single pot can hold
3. An amount equivalent to what fits inside a cooking vessel

Etymology: "Potfuls" is the plural of "potful", a noun for as much material or food as a single pot can hold. The word is a straightforward compound: "pot" combined with the suffix "-ful", which turns a container noun into a measure of its contents, much as "handful" or "spoonful" do. "Pot" is an older word, and "-ful" has long been used this way in English, so the formation is transparent. The word arrived in English in Middle English, when "potful" was built from the same two parts. Because "-ful" attaches so readily to containers, speakers could create a unit of measure for almost any vessel, which is why such words are common in recipes and everyday talk.

Synonyms: amount, quantity, load, batch, portion