bucketful
part of speech
noun (a bucketful, bucketfuls)
meaning for a pupil
1) The amount that one bucket can hold: «a bucketful of water». tree →
2) (informal) A large amount: «bucketfuls of rain». tree →
sense in the lessons
In maths and science problems «bucketful» is a unit of measure: if a bucket holds 10 litres, 3 bucketfuls hold 30 litres. In everyday talk, «it rained buckets» or «bucketfuls» means very heavy rain. Phrases: «by the bucketful».
examples
- We carried a bucketful of sand to make the castle. tree →
- It took six bucketfuls to fill the paddling pool. tree →
- The bucket holds 8 litres, so 4 bucketfuls are 32 litres. tree →
- She poured a bucketful of water over the campfire. tree →
- They earned money by the bucketful. tree →
- The farmer gave the pigs a bucketful of scraps. tree →
- The Prince gave him a second bucketful. tree →
note
Plural: bucketfuls (standard) or bucketsful (rarer). Same pattern: spoonful, cupful, handful. In maths: number of bucketfuls × capacity of one bucket = total.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «bucketful» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.