bocal

B3O1C3A1L1
/ˈboʊkəl//boʊˈkæl/

noun

A curved, tapered metal tube which connects the reed of several double reed woodwind instruments (such as the cor anglais, bassoon, and contrabassoon) to the rest of the instrument.

Scrabble 9

Meanings

nounbocal (plural bocals or bocaux)

plural bocals · plural bocaux

  1. A curved, tapered metal tube which connects the reed of several double reed woodwind instruments (such as the cor anglais, bassoon, and contrabassoon) to the rest of the instrument.
  2. A cylindrical glass vessel with a short wide neck.

    Foie gras comes in bocaux, hermetically sealed glass jars, or in fancy terrines, round porcelain crocks, fancily decorated and more expensive because of the packaging.

    1979 October 24, Craig Claiborne, “Pate de foie gras called the ultimate”, in The Greenwood Commonwealth, Greenwood, Miss., published 26 October 1979, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3, column 4
    2 more examples

    Something very similar to Faust’s cell presented itself to the view of Jehan when he ventured his head within the half-open door. It was a similar gloomy, dim-lighted nook. There was also a large fauteuil and a large table; compasses; alembics; skeletons of animals suspended from the ceiling; a sphere rolling on the floor; hippocéphales promiscuously with bocaux in which were quivering leaves of gold; […]

    1888, Victor Hugo, anonymous translator, “Ἀνάγκη [Anánkē]”, in Notre-Dame de Paris. […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: The Athenaeum Society, →OCLC, book VII, page 45

    One of the biggest features of this Grasse perfume industry is the distillation of these essences in their simple forms, selling them in bulk, in demijohns and estagons and bocaux, to the wholesale perfume makers, the fabricators and the second fusion operators throughout the worid.

    1922 September 3, Blanche McManus, “The Town that Perfumes the World”, in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, volume 74, number 363, St. Louis, Mo., →ISSN, →OCLC, “The Post-Dispatch Sunday Magazine” section, page 5, column 3

Origin

  1. Frenchbocal
  2. Englishbocal

Borrowed from French bocal. Doublet of boccale and pokal.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan tudell, bufador
  • tudellmetal tube connecting a double reed to the instrument
  • bufadormetal tube connecting a double reed to the instrument
French bocal
  • bocalmetal tube connecting a double reed to the instrument
Icelandic (on bassoons) ess, krókur
  • (on bassoons) essmetal tube connecting a double reed to the instrument
  • krókurmetal tube connecting a double reed to the instrument
Spanish tudel
  • tudelmetal tube connecting a double reed to the instrument

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with bocal

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

bocal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bocal

MLA

“bocal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bocal. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bocal,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bocal.

Source: bocal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.