-pot-

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

pot¹ /pɑt/   n., v., pot•ted, pot•ting. 
n. [countable]

1. a container made of baked clay, metal, etc., used for cooking, serving, and other purposes.
2. such a container with its contents:
   a pot of stew.
3. flowerpot.
4. a container of liquor or other drink:
   a pot of ale.
5. chamber pot.
6. Slang Terms a large sum of money:
   [usually singular] He inherited quite a pot when she died.
7. all the money bet at a single time;
   pool:
   He put all his winnings in the pot for one last game.
8. Slang Terms potbelly:
   He'd developed quite a pot drinking all that beer.

v. 

9. to put or transplant into a pot:
   [~ + object] to pot a plant.

Idioms

10. Idioms go to pot, [no object] to become ruined;
    get worse;
    deteriorate:
    The whole city seems to be going to pot.

pot•ful, n. [countable] , pl. -fuls. 

pot² /pɑt/   n. [uncountable]

1. Drugs, Slang Terms [Slang.] marijuana.

-pot-, root. 

1. -pot- comes from Latin, where it has the meaning "power;
   ability.'' This meaning is found in such words as: impotence, impotent, omnipotent, plenipotentiary, potency, potent, potential.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

pot¹  (pot), n., v., pot•ted, pot•ting. 
n. 

1. a container of earthenware, metal, etc., usually round and deep and having a handle or handles and often a lid, used for cooking, serving, and other purposes.
2. such a container with its contents:
   a pot of stew.
3. the amount contained in or held by a pot;
   potful.
4. a flowerpot.
5. a container of liquor or other drink:
   a pot of ale.
6. liquor or other drink.
7. Botany a cagelike vessel for trapping fish, lobsters, eels, etc., typically made of wood, wicker, or wire. Cf. lobster pot. 
8. a chamber pot.
9. Metallurgy
   • a vessel for melting metal;
     melting pot.
   • an electrolytic cell for reducing certain metals, as aluminum, from fused salts.
10. British Terms
    • See chimney pot. 
    • [Dial.] a basket or box used for carrying provisions or the like;
      a pannier.
11. Slang Terms a large sum of money.
12. all the money bet at a single time;
    pool.
13. British Terms (in horse racing) the favorite.
14. See potshot. 
15. Weights and Measures a liquid measure, usually equal to a pint or quart.
16. [Armor.]
    • an open, broad-brimmed helmet of the 17th century.
    • any open helmet.
17. Slang Terms a potbelly.
18. Idioms go to pot, to become ruined;
    deteriorate:
    With no one to care for it, the lovely old garden went to pot.
19. Idioms sweeten the pot. See sweeten (def. 8).

v.t. 

20. to put into a pot.
21. to preserve (food) in a pot.
22. to cook in a pot.
23. to transplant into a pot:
    We must pot the petunias.
24. Sport [Hunting.]
    • to shoot (game birds) on the ground or water, or (game animals) at rest, instead of in flight or running:
      He can't even pot a sitting duck.
    • to shoot for food, not for sport.
25. Informal Terms to capture, secure, or win.

v.i. 

26. Informal Terms to take a potshot;
    shoot.

• 1150–1200; Middle English pott (see potter¹); cognate with Dutch, Low German pot (perh. French pot)

pot′like′, adj. 

pot²  (pot), n. [Slang.]

1. Drugs, Slang Terms marijuana.

• said to be a shortening of Mexican Spanish potiguaya or potaguaya, apparently contraction of potación de guaya wine or brandy in which marijuana buds have been steeped (literally, drink of grief ) 1935–40, American.

pot³  (pot), n. [Scot. and North Eng.]

1. Scottish Terms a deep hole;
   pit.

• 1325–75; Middle English; perh. identical with pot¹

pot., [Elect.]

1. Electricity potential.
2. Electricity potentiometer.