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and containing something, as a basket, a vase, a bag, a reservoir; a repository. O sacred receptacle of my joys! Shak.

Of a flower, having its parts inserted spirally on the receptacle.

A receptacle of air in various parts of the system; as, a cell or minute cavity in the walls of the air tubes of the lungs; the air sac of birds; a dilatation of the air vessels in insects.

d into small spaces or areolations, as the wings of insects, the leaves of plants, or the receptacle of compound flowers.

o applied) is composed of numerous oval scales, inclosing the florets, sitting on a broad receptacle, which, with the fleshy base of the scales, is much esteemed as an article of food.

A general receptacle or receiver. [Obs.] It [a little brook] paid to its common audit no more than the revenues of a little cloud. Jer. Taylor. Audit ale, a kind of ale, brewed at the English universities, orig. for the day of audit. -- Audit house, Audit room, an appendage to a cathedral, for the transaction of its b…

racle of Balaam's ass speaking. Numb. xxii. 30. [Cant] Balaam basket or box (Print.), the receptacle for rejected articles. Blackw. Mag.

A receptacle or place where persons may immerse or wash their bodies in water.

A box, frame, crib, or inclosed place, used as a receptacle for any commodity; as, a corn bin; a wine bin; a coal bin.

A bag or sac in animals, which serves as the receptacle of some fluid; as, the urinary bladder; the gall bladder; -- applied especially to the urinary bladder, either within the animal, or when taken out and inflated with air.

g flour. McElrath. -- Bolting hutch, a bin or tub for the bolted flour or meal; (fig.) a receptacle.

A receptacle or case of any firm material and of various shapes.

One of the receptacles on the rim of a water wheel into which the water rushes, causing the wheel to revolve; also, a float of a paddle wheel.

A large bin or similar receptacle; as, a coal bunker.

A slender prolongation of the receptacle as an axis between the carpels, as in Geranium and many umbelliferous plants.

A receptacle, as in a dining room, for a few bottles of wine or liquor, made in the form of a chest or coffer, or a deep drawer in a sideboard, and usually lined with metal.

The scales or bracts on the receptacle, which subtend each flower in the heads of many Compositæ, as the sunflower. Gray. Chaff cutter, a machine for cutting, up straw, etc., into "chaff" for the use of cattle.

A tight receptacle or box, usually for holding gas, steam, liguids, etc.; as, the steam chest of an engine; the wind chest of an organ. Bomb chest, See under Bomb. -- Chest of drawers, a case or movable frame containing drawers.

A receptacle for rags or shreds.

A box or chest. Specifically: (a) A bronze receptacle, round or oval, frequently decorated with engravings on the sides and cover, and with feet, handles, etc., of decorative castings. (b) A cinerary urn. See Illustration in Appendix.