paint pot

Also paint·pot. a container, as a jar, pail, or bucket, for holding paint while it is being applied.

Geology. a spring or pit filled with boiling colored mud.

Compare mud pot.

Origin of paint pot

First recorded in 1830–40

Smallbones,” said he, “one of the men has left his paint-pot on the stage, under the stern: go and bring it in immediately.

Snarley-yow |Frederick Marryat
Wilbur was below tinkering with his paint-pot about the cabin.

Moran of the Lady Letty |Frank Norris
She took the paint-pot, and stood looking at the brush as it moved up and down in his hand.

The Trumpet-Major |Thomas Hardy
I had even to hide the little dabs of mud I took from a paint-pot.

A Summer's Outing |Carter H. Harrison

Just at the corner of the street he met the man with the paint-pot, who asked him if he had deserted the brethren.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles |Thomas Hardy