Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun As much as a bucket will hold.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • a bucket filled with a substance, or the quantity which would fill a bucket.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the quantity contained in a bucket
  • noun by extension a large quantity

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the quantity contained in a bucket

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The wives and girlfriends of rich sporting celebrities, she argued, displayed this tendency by the "bucketful".

    WalesOnline - Home 2008

  • "bucketful" of the smaller speculators, when business was slack.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" Various

  • A House That Jorge Built: Apr. 16, 2009 The Yankees hit home runs by the bucketful at their new home stadium.

    Hip! Hip!: Ten Moments That Defined Posada's Career Brian Costa 2012

  • Record fees in wrongful arrests of ‘terrorists’, ‘hurt feelings’ and assaulted protestors by the bucketful - the lawyers are moving in for the kill and well they might ask “What recession?”

    London G20 Police outnumbered and attacked « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2009

  • There was abundant advice offered by experts Wednesday on what to do when it rains by the bucketful, with all agreeing that seeking a dry place was the best course of action.

    D.C. region braces for deluge Ashley Halsey III 2010

  • He knocked on the door of the convent and presented her with a bucketful of loose coins.

    Kill the Irishman Rick Porrello 2011

  • He drank it, Ms. Muhlstein says, "by the potful, by the bucketful, despite the terrible cramps wringing his insides, the nervous eye twitches, and the burning in his stomach."

    Like Dining With Rabelais Moira Hodgson 2011

  • The Rev Tim Jones of York has been drenched a bucketful of spaghetti and ravioli thrown over him by a parishioner angered by his suggestion to newly-released criminals that they finance Christmas by shoplifting.

    2009 December « Anglican Samizdat 2009

  • Which it is anyway – and for those who don't like it, you're free to remove the electrical service to your house, go back to candle-light, cooking at a hearth, and heating your bathwater by the bucketful on your coal - or wood-fired cast-iron stove.

    Obama admin. approves controversial Cape Cod wind farm 2010

  • They can dish it out by the bucketful, but when it comes to getting some back, they're childish, petulant, and vindictive.

    The Dangers of Snark 2009

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