
a drop in the bucket
[Middle English, from Old French buket, of Germanic origin.]
A reserved amount of memory that holds a single item or multiple items of data. Bucket is somewhat synonymous to "buffer," although buffers are usually memory locations for incoming data records, while buckets tend to be smaller holding areas for calculations. See hash table, buffer and variable.
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verb
According to N&Q (5s:6 (1876), 24), it was the custom for the mother of a newly christened baby in 19th-century Cumberland to give a tea to her neighbours. When they were ready to leave, a bucket was placed in the doorway which all the women had to jump over. If they stumbled or tripped it was taken as a sign that they were pregnant. Over 50 years later, but referring to the ‘old days’, another reference to Cumberland (Folk-Lore 40 (1929), 279) describes a similar situation but with the different detail that the bucket held a lighted candle, and if the draught of a woman's skirts put the candle out ‘it was taken as an omen she would be the next to require the midwife’. Another variant was for a besom to be placed across two buckets, and jumped over. The link between pregnancy and the domestic bucket is confirmed by a comment from a young Yorkshire woman reported in Opie and Tatem—‘Jump over a bucket to bring on labour’.
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An attachment for a materials-handling or excavating machine that digs or carries loose materials such as earth, gravel, stone, or concrete; may be shaped like a scoop, with provision for opening and closing for convenience in unloading.
From later Bronze Age times through to the early medieval period, metal buckets of various kinds were important accoutrements and probably status objects throughout Europe. The earliest examples are of situla shape, made of sheet bronze, and date to the 8th century bc, imitating vessels found in the Mediterranean world still earlier. The association of buckets and also sheet-metal cauldrons with flesh-hooks suggests that they had a central role in feasting ceremonies where the chief would apportion particular cuts of meat from the communal cooking vessel according to rank, status, or privilege. Wooden buckets with elaborate ornamental metal fittings are known through Iron Age times and outside the Roman world in northern Europe through the early 1st millennium AD. They reappear again very visibly over much of northwest Europe in the mid 1st millennium ad when examples are deposited in pagan Saxons graves.
To convert from buckets (Brit. dry) to:
cubic cm,
multiply by 18180.
I tell you the past is a bucket of ashes.
— Carl Sandburg
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It has been suggested that pail (container) be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since December 2011. |
A bucket (or pail) is typically a watertight, vertical cylinder or truncated cone, with an open top and a flat bottom, usually attached to a semicircular carrying handle called the bail.[1][2]
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There are many types of buckets;
As a shipping container, the word "pail" is a technical term for a bucket shaped package with a sealed top or lid which is used as a shipping container for chemicals and industrial products.[3]
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Roman bronze situla from Germany, 2nd-3rd century
A young lady carrying a bucket. By the German artist Heinrich Zille.
An excavator bucket.
Building materials and solvents have been packaged in large metal pails, but in recent decades plastic buckets have been greatly favored. Plastic buckets have more uses due to the popularity of plastic for food products and the tendency of metal pails to rust.[4]
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - spand, spandfuld
v. tr. - øse, hente
v. intr. - bumpe, rasle
idioms:
Nederlands (Dutch)
emmer, grijper, schoep, (mv) zeeën (figuurlijk), plenzen, zigzaggen
Français (French)
n. - seau, (Tech) godet, piston, auget (d'une roue)
v. tr. - pleuvoir à seaux
v. intr. - cahoter
idioms:
Deutsch (German)
n. - Eimer, (tech.) Schaufelkammer
v. - in Strömen gießen, holpern
idioms:
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - κάδος, κουβάς
v. - αντλώ/μεταφέρω με κάδο, οδηγώ αυτοκίνητο με λαγουδάκια (σκιρτήματα)
idioms:
Italiano (Italian)
piovere a catinelle, secchio
idioms:
Português (Portuguese)
n. - balde (m)
v. - mover-se irregularmente
idioms:
Русский (Russian)
скакать, литься, ведро, черпак, колымага, корыто
idioms:
Español (Spanish)
n. - cubo, balde
v. tr. - diluviar
v. intr. - llover a cántaros, llover a baldes
idioms:
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - puts, hink, hisskopa, pumpkolv
v. - ösa ner
中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
桶子, 屁股, 铲头, 用桶提, 驾驶, 催拼命跑, 利用买空卖空, 下倾盆大雨, 乱跑, 急速行进, 驾车飞驶
idioms:
中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 桶子, 屁股, 鏟頭
v. tr. - 用桶提, 駕駛, 催拼命跑, 利用買空賣空
v. intr. - 下傾盆大雨, 亂跑, 急速行進, 駕車飛駛
idioms:
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 물통
v. tr. - ~을 통으로 푸다, ~을 난폭하게 몰다
v. intr. - 난폭하게 달리다, 서두르다
idioms:
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - バケツ, 手桶, 大量
v. - バケツで汲む, 土砂降りに降る, 乱暴に飛ばす, 急ピッチでこぐ, バケツでくむ
idioms:
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) سطل أو دلو (فعل) يحمل بالدلو, يركب (حصان) بقوة
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - דלי, כמויות גדולות של נוזלים, תא ליד גלגל-מים, מעלית-גרעינים
v. tr. - נסע בטלטולים
v. intr. - נסע בטלטולים, רכב במהירות, ירד בשפע (גשם)
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