Kick the Bucket Probably Has Nothing to Do With Buckets
A bucket is an open container with a handle. The idiom about dying may refer to a beam, not a pail.
A bucket is an open container with a handle for carrying liquid. The phrase *kick the bucket* is usually explained by a suicide image, but the better-supported account involves a different bucket entirely: in some English dialects a *bucket* was the beam from which a slaughtered pig was hung, and the animal's final kicks struck it.
- A container with a handle. *A plastic bucket.*
- A large quantity. *Buckets of rain.*
- A category. *Put it in that bucket.*
- Kick the bucket — to die. *He kicked the bucket.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | bucket | A metal bucket. |
| Plural | buckets | Two buckets. |
| Verb | bucket | It is bucketing down. |
| Compound | bucket list | On my bucket list. |
| Related | pail | A milk pail. |
How it is used in a sentence
- It is bucketing down.British: raining heavily.
- That is on my bucket list.Things to do before dying.
- A drop in the bucket.A negligible amount.
Bucket phrases
- Kick the bucket — to die
- Bucket list — things to do before you die, from that idiom
- A drop in the bucket — an insignificant amount
- Bucketing down — raining hard
- Bucket shop — a disreputable broker, or a cut-price ticket agent
From Anglo-French *buquet*, a tub, possibly from Old English *buc*, a pitcher. The idiom is recorded from the eighteenth century.
Where does *kick the bucket* come from?
The best-supported explanation involves a dialect sense of bucket meaning a beam, from which slaughtered animals were hung.
Bucket or pail?
They mean the same. Pail is more common in American English and in rural British use.