vat

¹ American  

[vat] / væt /

noun

1. a large container, as a tub or tank, used for storing or holding liquids.

   a wine vat.

2. Chemistry.

   1. a preparation containing an insoluble dye converted by reduction into a soluble leuco base.

   2. a vessel containing such a preparation.

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verb (used with object)

vatted, vatting

1. to put into or treat in a vat.

VAT ² American  

noun

1. value-added tax.

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Vat. ³ American  

abbreviation

1. Vatican.

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vat ¹ British  

/ væt /

noun

1. a large container for holding or storing liquids

2. chem a preparation of reduced vat dye

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verb

1. (tr) to place, store, or treat in a vat

Vat. ² British  

abbreviation

1. Vatican

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VAT ³ British  

/ væt /

abbreviation

1. value-added tax: a tax levied on the difference between the cost of materials and the selling price of a commodity or service

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Other Word Forms

• unvatted adjective

Etymology

Origin of vat

before 1100; Middle English (south); Old English fæt vessel; cognate with Old Norse fat vessel, German Fass keg

Example Sentences

At last, when the sun was low in the sky, a prisoner crew arrived with a great vat of some thick steamy substance that we gobbled ravenously.

From Literature

I gazed at her, trying to align the tragic, lovesick woman I’d seen on the big screen with this girl, dewy-faced from the humid air of wash vats and irons, pawing through my family’s sheets.

From Literature

The coolhouse was packed with cheeses, vats of smooth white milk curd, churns of butter.

From Literature

His mother had been leaving his laundry outside his door ever since the morning three months ago when she had stepped in a vat of papier-mache that was sitting in front of his dresser.

From Literature

Instead, two giant vats of porridge were brought out from the kitchen on wheeled carts and pushed ’round the hall by blank-faced kitchen maids, who stopped once at each table.

From Literature