flask

From Middle English flask, flaske (“case, cask, keg”), from Old English flasce, flaxe (“bottle, flask”) and Medieval Latin flascō (“bottle”); from Frankish *flaskā; whence also Dutch fles; both from Proto-Germanic *flaskǭ (“braid-covered bottle, wicker-enclosed jug”) (whence also German Low German Flaske, Fless, German Flasche, Danish flaske), from Proto-Indo-European *ploḱ-skō (“flat”) (whence also Lithuanian plókščias, Czech ploský, Albanian flashkët), or from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- (“to weave”). Doublet of fiasco, flacon, and flagon.

The sense “laborator glassware” is from Italian fiasco, and the sense “container for holding a casting mold” is from Middle French flasque (“powder flask”), itself from Old Spanish flasco, frasco, both from Late Latin above.

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: fläsk, IPA^(key): /ˈflɑːsk/
• (Northern England, Scotland) IPA^(key): /flask/
• (General American) enPR: flăsk, IPA^(key): /ˈflæsk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æsk

flask (plural flasks)

1. A narrow-necked vessel of metal or glass, used for various purposes; as of sheet metal, to carry gunpowder in; or of wrought iron, to contain quicksilver; or of glass, to heat water in, etc.
2. A container used to discreetly carry a small amount of a hard alcoholic beverage; a pocket flask.
3. (sciences) Laboratory glassware used to hold larger volumes than test tubes, normally having a narrow mouth of a standard size which widens to a flat or spherical base.
4. (engineering) A container for holding a casting mold, especially for sand casting molds.
5. A bed in a gun carriage.

   (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

6. A nuclear flask, a large, secure lead-lined container for the transport of nuclear material.
   • 2023 December 27, Ben Jones, “Inside Sellafield... by rail”, in RAIL, number 999, page 21:

     Over the years, the railway has been the safest way to move hazardous chemicals, radioactive waste, fuel for Royal Navy nuclear submarines and imported fuel for reprocessing, as well as flasks containing fuel rods to and from British power stations.

7. (Newfoundland) A small bottle of liquor.

• → Irish: fleasc
• → Welsh: fflasg

flask (third-person singular simple present flasks, present participle flasking, simple past and past participle flasked)

1. (dentistry) To invest a denture in a flask so as to produce a sectional mold.

• falks, flaks

flask

1. imperative of flaske

From French flasque (“flask”). Doublet with (native) fles (“bottle”), (through French) flacon (“flagon”) and (through Italian) fiasco (“fiasco”).

flask f (plural flasken, diminutive flaskje n)

1. flask

• flaske

From Anglo-Norman flascon, from Frankish *flaskā, from Proto-Germanic *flaskǭ. Reinforced by existing Old English flasce, from the same source.

• IPA^(key): /ˈflask(ə)/

flask (plural flaskes) (rare)

1. A small barrel for beer storage.
2. A container for the storage of garments.

• flasket

• English: flask
  • → Irish: fleasc
  • → Welsh: fflasg
• Scots: flask, flas

• “flask, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-04.

• flēsk

From Proto-West Germanic *flaiski. Cognates include Old English flǣsċ and Old Saxon flēsk.

• IPA^(key): /ˈflaːsk/

flāsk n

1. flesh

• North Frisian:

  Mooring: flååsch

• Saterland Frisian: Flaask
• West Frisian: fleis

• Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 28