faucet English · revision 800

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈfɔːsɪt/; /ˈfɔsɪt/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|faucet]],^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(MED) [[bor|fro|fausset|t=stopper, spigot, peg of a barrel]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(Hoad 1986) of uncertain origin.^(Etymonline) Barnhart and others derive it from ''fausser'' “to damage, break into”, from Late Latin ''falsāre'' “to falsify”, from Latin ''falsus'' (see [[false]]).^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) Hoad derives it from Provençal ''falset'', from ''falsar'' “to bore”,^(Hoad 1986) and another suggestion is a diminutive of Latin ''faux'' “throat”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A tap or spigot for drawing liquor from a barrel (probably before 1400 in Barnhart; before 1400 in the OED; c. 1400 in Etymonline).^(Barnhart 1995)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(MED)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The older ''spigot and faucet'' was a tap for a cask consisting of a hollow tapering tube driven into the barrel and a screw or plug in the tube that regulated the flow.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) Properly the spigot was the tube and the faucet the screw, but the senses have merged or reversed over time.^(Etymonline) The word also meant a vent peg stopping the hole in a cask (c. 1430),^(OED 1989) and contemptuously a tapster (1614).^(OED 1989) It became obsolete in British English except in dialect, but is the usual American word for a tap.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1400 – a tap for a barrel.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * c. 1430 – a vent peg (obsolete).^(OED 1989)

+ * 1614 – a tapster (contemptuous).^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A fixture or device for regulating the flow of a liquid from a pipe or container; a [[tap]] or [[spigot]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[spigot]]

+ * [[tap]]

+ * [[false]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Faucet'' is chiefly American, while British English generally uses ''tap''.^(OED 1989)^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}