vessel: Meaning and Definition of

ves•sel

1. a craft for traveling on water, now usually one larger than an ordinary rowboat; a ship or boat.
2. an airship.
3. a hollow or concave utensil, as a cup, bowl, pitcher, or vase, used for holding liquids or other contents.
4. a tube or duct, as an artery or vein, containing or conveying blood or some other body fluid.
5. a duct formed in the xylem, composed of connected cells that have lost their intervening partitions, that conducts water and mineral nutrients. Cf.
6. a person regarded as a holder or receiver of something, esp. something nonmaterial: a vessel of grace; a vessel of wrath.