I. ˈvat, usu -ad.+V noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English vat, fat, from Old English fæt; akin to Old High German vaz vessel, cask, vat, Old Norse fat vessel, Lithuanian puodas pot and perhaps to Sanskrit palla granary, barn
1. : a large cistern, tub, barrel, or other vessel ; especially : one used to hold or store liquids
soups fresh from the big fifty-gallon soup vats — Jack Alexander
2.
a. : a large vessel for holding preparations for dyeing
b. : a liquor or bath containing a dye that has been converted by reduction usually with sodium hydrosulfite and alkali into a soluble leuco form that does not dye
3. : tan vat
4.
a. : a tank used in papermaking that contains the stock from which handmade papers are dipped by a mold
b. : one of the tanks in which the cylinders of a cylinder machine rotate
c. : a tank used to hold tub sizing
d. : a tank in which paper stock is bleached
5. : a wooden tub in which to wash ores and minerals
6.
a. : salt pit
b. Southwest : an incrusted dried margin around a water hole
II. transitive verb
( vatted ; vatted ; vatting ; vats )
1. : to put into or treat in a vat
2. : to prepare a vat (sense 2b) : reduce (a vat dye) to form a solution of a leuco compound