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Flask

1. A small bottle-shaped vessel for holding fluids; as, a flask of oil or wine.

2. 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.

3. A bed in a gun carriage.

4. The wooden or iron frame which holds the sand, etc, forming the mold used in a foundry; it consists of two or more parts; viz, the cope or top; sometimes, the cheeks, or middle part; and the drag, or bottom part. When there are one or more cheeks, the flask is called a three part flask, four part flask, etc. Erlenmeyer flask, a thin glass flask, flat-bottomed and cone-shaped to allow of safely shaking its contents laterally without danger of spilling; so called from erlenmeyer, a german chemist who invented it. Florence flask. [From Florence in Italy] same as betty. A glass flask, round or pear-shaped, with round or flat bottom, and usually very thin to allow of heating solutions. Pocket flask, a kind of pocket dram bottle, often covered with metal or leather to protect it from breaking.

Origin: as. Flasce, flaxe; akin to D. Flesch, OHG. Flasca, g. Flasche, Icel. & Sw. Flaska, dan. Flaske, OF. Flasche, LL. Flasca, flasco; of uncertain origin; cf. L. Vasculum, dim. Of vas a vessel, gr, . Cf. Flagon, Flasket.