POTS (informal; computing)

Plain Old Telephone System

pot¹ /pot/

1. Any of various usu deep and round domestic containers used as cooking utensils, or for preservation and storage
2. The contents or capacity of such a container
3. A chamberpot
4. A flowerpot or plantpot
5. A teapot
6. Earthenware, or a handmade earthenware vessel
7. A vessel of fireclay used to contain the glass during melting (glass-making)
8. A trophy, esp a cup (informal)
9. A pocket, or a stroke in which the object ball enters a pocket (snooker, etc)
10. (usu in pl) a large sum of money (informal)
11. A large stake or bet (informal)
12. An accumulated pool of bets in a gambling game
13. A heavily-backed horse
14. An important person (usu big pot; informal)
15. A pot-belly (informal)
16. A pot shot (informal)
17. A simple helmet (historical)
18. A wicker trap for lobsters, etc, a lobster pot
19. A size of paper (also pott) about 12 by 15 inches (30.5 by 38cm; so called from its original watermark)

Made of clay or earthenware

1. To put into pots, for preserving, etc
2. To cook in a pot
3. To plant in a pot
4. To manufacture (pottery)
5. To drain molasses from (sugar) during the refining process
6. To shoot (a creature) for the pot (ie as a meal), by a pot shot, or generally to bag, win, secure
7. To pocket (a snooker or billiard ball)
8. To epitomize or summarize, esp simplistically
9. To encapsulate (an electronic component) in a protective insulating resin
10. To sit (a baby) on a chamberpot

1. To make pottery, esp by hand
2. To take a pot shot (with at)
3. To tipple (Shakespeare)

potˈful noun (pl potˈfuls)

As much as a pot will hold

pottˈable adjective (snooker, etc)

pottˈed adjective

1. Cooked or preserved in a pot
2. Condensed, concentrated
3. Abridged
4. (of music, etc) recorded for reproduction, canned (informal)
5. Intoxicated by drugs or alcohol (N Am inf)

potˈale noun

Refuse from a grain distillery

pot bank noun

A pottery

pot barley noun

Barley whose outer husk has been removed by millstones

potˈ-bellied adjective

pot-bellˈy noun (informal)

1. A protuberant belly
2. A person who has a protuberant belly
3. (also pot-bellied stove) a wood- or coal-burning stove of bulbous design (N American)

potˈboiler noun

1. A work in art or literature produced merely with regard to saleability, to secure the necessaries of life
2. A producer of such works
3. A pebble heated up and used for boiling water (archaeology)

potˈboiling noun

potˈ-bound adjective

(of a pot plant) having its roots cramped by too small a pot, without room for growth

potˈboy noun

A serving boy in a public house

pot companion noun

A comrade in drinking

pot furnace noun

A furnace, which may be variously fired, in which a number of pots for glassmaking are set

potˈgun noun

1. A mortar
2. A popgun

potˈ-hanger noun

A device for hanging a pot or a pothook on

pot hat noun

1. A bowler hat
2. Formerly, a top hat

potˈ-head noun

1. A stupid person
2. See also pothead under pot²

pot herb noun

A vegetable, esp one used for flavouring, eg parsley

pot holder noun

A piece of thick padded material used to protect the hands when handling hot dishes, etc

potˈhole noun

1. A hole worn in rock in a stream bed by eddying detritus
2. A deep hole eroded in limestone, a pot (see pot⁴)
3. A hole worn in a road surface

intransitive verb and transitive verb

To explore (limestone potholes)

potˈholer noun

potˈholing noun

potˈhook noun

1. A hook for hanging a pot over a fire
2. A hooked stroke in writing

potˈhouse noun (old)

An alehouse

potˈ-hunter noun

1. Someone who hunts to get food
2. Someone who shoots merely for the sake of a bag
3. Someone who competes merely for the sake of prizes

potˈ-hunting noun

potˈ-lid noun

1. The cover of a pot
2. (Scot patˈ-lid) a curling-stone played exactly on the tee

pot liquor noun

A thin broth in which meat has been boiled

pot luck noun

1. (in the expression take pot luck) what may happen to be in the pot and so be available to make a meal, esp for the unexpected arrival
2. Whatever happens to be available

potˈman noun

1. A pot companion
2. A pot boy

pot metal noun

1. An alloy of copper and lead
2. Scraps of old iron pots, etc

pot plant noun

A plant grown in a pot

pot roast noun

A dish of braised meat, esp with added vegetables

potˈ-roast transitive verb

To braise

potˈsherd /-shûrd/ noun (esp archaeology)

A fragment of pottery (also potˈshard, (Spenser) potˈshare)

potˈshop noun

A small public house

pot shot noun

1. A shot within easy range
2. A casual or random shot
3. A shot taken at a bird or animal with a view to one's next meal
4. A critical remark aimed at an easy or undeserving target

potˈ-sick adjective

(of a plant) sickly from growing in a pot

pot stick noun

A stick for stirring what is being cooked in a pot

pot still noun

A still in which heat is applied directly to the pot containing the wash (cf patent still)

potˈ-still adjective

Made in a pot still

potˈstone noun

Impure talc or steatite, a massive finely felted aggregate of talc, usu with mica and chlorite, from which cooking pots were fashioned in earlier times

potting compost noun

A compost mixture used for growing plants in pots

potting shed noun

A garden shed in which plants are grown in pots before being planted out in beds

pot-valˈiant or pot-valˈorous adjective

Full of drink-inspired courage

pot valour noun

potˈ-walloper noun see separate entry pot-waller

big pot (informal)

An important person

go to pot (informal)

1. To go to ruin
2. To go to pieces (orig to supply the cooking pot, not the melting-pot)

keep the pot boiling or a-boiling

1. To procure the necessaries of life
2. To keep things going briskly without stopping

pot of gold

1. The object of fairytale quests, traditionally to be dug up where the rainbow ends
2. Any vainly sought source of wealth, etc

pot on

To transfer (a plant) into a larger pot

pot up

To put (a plant) into a pot

put someone's pot on (Aust informal)

1. To inform on someone, give someone away
2. To undo or finish someone

the pot calling the kettle black

Castigation of another's faults by someone with the same shortcomings

pot² /pot/ (informal)

The drug cannabis in any of its forms, incl marijuana and hashish

potˈhead noun

A habitual taker of cannabis

pot³ /pot/

pot⁴ /pot/ (dialect)

A deep hole eg in limestone country, a pothole

• repack
• repackage
• repackaged
• repackages
• repackaging
• repacked
• repacking
• repacks
• repaginate
• repaginated
• repaginates
• repaginating
• repagination
• repaginations
• repaid
• repaint
• repainted
• repainting
• repaintings
• repaints
• repair
• repairable
• repaired
• repairer
• repairers