bucketful

plural bucketfuls · plural bucketsful

1. The quantity contained in a bucket.

   She had the next bail to me, and told me off in between bucketfuls of milk.

   1933, Frank Clune, Try Anything Once, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 27

   1 more example

   "I had a fire lit there, and there is a bucketful of coals. You will be pretty comfortable, I hope."

   1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019

   Synonyms: pailful

2. broadlyA large quantity.

   But out of the water he dared not put his head; for the rain came down by bucketsful, and the hail hammered like shot on the stream, and churned it into foam; […]

   1863, Charles Kingsley, The Water Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby

   1 more example

   "Confound it all," snorted Mr. Tupworthy indignantly, "you're flooding my flat. The water's coming through my bathroom ceiling in bucketfuls. The plaster'll fall next. Can't you stop it? Has a pipe burst or something?"

   1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC

   Synonyms: abundance, battalion, arseload, assload, bellyload, boatload, brimful, busload