Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Vessel \Ves"sel\, n. [OF. vessel, veissel, vaissel, vaissiel, F.
   vascellum, dim. of vasculum, dim. of vas a vessel. Cf.
   {Vascular}, {Vase}.]
   1. A hollow or concave utensil for holding anything; a hollow
      receptacle of any kind, as a hogshead, a barrel, a firkin,
      a bottle, a kettle, a cup, a bowl, etc.

            [They drank] out of these noble vessels. --Chaucer.

   2. A general name for any hollow structure made to float upon
      the water for purposes of navigation; especially, one that
      is larger than a common rowboat; as, a war vessel; a
      passenger vessel.

            [He] began to build a vessel of huge bulk. --Milton.

   3. Fig.: A person regarded as receiving or containing
      something; esp. (Script.), one into whom something is
      conceived as poured, or in whom something is stored for
      use; as, vessels of wrath or mercy.

            He is a chosen vessel unto me.        --Acts ix. 15.

            [The serpent] fit vessel, fittest imp of fraud, in
            whom To enter.                        --Milton.

   4. (Anat.) Any tube or canal in which the blood or other
      fluids are contained, secreted, or circulated, as the
      arteries, veins, lymphatics, etc.

   5. (Bot.) A continuous tube formed from superposed large
      cylindrical or prismatic cells (trache[ae]), which have
      lost their intervening partitions, and are usually marked
      with dots, pits, rings, or spirals by internal deposition
      of secondary membranes; a duct.

   {Acoustic vessels}. See under {Acoustic}.

   {Weaker vessel}, a woman; -- now applied humorously. ``Giving
      honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel.'' --1
      Peter iii. 7. ``You are the weaker vessel.'' --Shak.