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FLASK

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 481 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FLASK , in its earliest meaning in Old See also:

English a See also:vessel for carrying liquor, made of See also:wood or See also:leather. The See also:principal applications in current usage are (1) to a vessel of See also:metal or wood, formerly of See also:horn, used for carrying See also:gunpowder; (2) to a See also:long-necked, See also:round-bodied See also:glass vessel, usually covered with plaited See also:straw or See also:maize leaves, containing See also:olive or other oil or See also:Italian wines—it is often known as a " See also:Florence flask ": similarly shaped vessels are used for experiments, &c., in a laboratory; x.z6(3) to a small metal or glass receptacle for See also:spirits, See also:wine or other liquor, of a See also:size and shape to See also:fit into a See also:pocket or See also:holster, usually covered with leather, See also:basket-See also:work or other protecting substance, and with a detachable portion of the See also:case shaped to See also:form a See also:cup. " Flask " is also used in metal-See also:founding of a wooden See also:frame or case to contain See also:part of the See also:mould. The word "flagon," which is by derivation a doublet of " flask," is usually applied to a larger type of vessel for holding liquor, more particularly to a type of wine-See also:bottle with a See also:short See also:neck and circular See also:body with flattened sides. The word is also used of a See also:jug-shaped vessel with a handle, spout and lid, into which wine may be decanted from the bottle for use at table, and of a similarly shaped vessel to contain the Eucharistic wine till it is poured into the See also:chalice. "Flask" (in O. Eng. fiasce or flaxe) is represented both in See also:Teutonic and Romanic See also:languages. The earliest examples are found in Med. See also:Lat. fiasco, flasconis, whence come Ital. fiascone, O. Fr. fiascon(mod. flacon), adapted in the Eng. "flagon." Another Lat. form is fiasca, this gave a Fr. fiasque, which in the sense of " See also:powder flask " remained in use till later than the 16th See also:century. In Teutonic languages the word, in its various forms, is the See also:common one for " bottle," so in Ger.

Flasche, Dutch fiesch, &c. If the word is of Romanic origin it is probably a metathesized form of the Lat. vasculum, diminutive of vas, vessel. There is no very satisfactory See also:

etymology if the word is of Teutonic origin; the New English See also:Dictionary considers a connexion with " See also:flat " probable phonetically, but finds no See also:evidence that the word was used originally for a flat-shaped vessel.

End of Article: FLASK

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