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vase

vase is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 2 senses. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.(Arch.) (a) A vessel similar to that described in the first definition above, or the representation of one in a solid block of stone, or the like, used for an ornament, as on a terrace or in a garden. See Illust. of Niche. (b) The body, or naked ground, of the Corinthian and Composite capital; -- called also tambour, and drum. Note: Until the time of Walker (1791), vase was made to rhyme with base,, case, etc., and it is still commonly so pronounced in the United States. Walker made it to rhyme with phrase, maze, etc. Of modern English practice, Mr. A. J. Ellis (1874) says: "Vase has four pronunciations in English: vasz, which I most commonly say, is going out of use väz I hear most frequently, vaz very rarely, and vas I only know from Cull's marking. On the analogy of case, however, it should be the regular sound."
  2. 2.(Bot.) The calyx of a plant.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

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