The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Vessel \Ves"sel\, n. [OF. vessel, veissel, vaissel, vaissiel, F.
   vaisseau, fr. L. vascellum, dim. of vasculum, dim. of vas a
   vessel. Cf. Vascular, Vase.]
   1. A hollow or concave utensil for holding anything; a hollow
      receptacle of any kind, as a hogshead, a barrel, a firkin,
      a bottle, a kettle, a cup, a bowl, etc.
      [1913 Webster]

            [They drank] out of these noble vessels. --Chaucer.
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   2. A general name for any hollow structure made to float upon
      the water for purposes of navigation; especially, one that
      is larger than a common rowboat; as, a war vessel; a
      passenger vessel.
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            [He] began to build a vessel of huge bulk. --Milton.
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   3. Fig.: A person regarded as receiving or containing
      something; esp. (Script.), one into whom something is
      conceived as poured, or in whom something is stored for
      use; as, vessels of wrath or mercy.
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            He is a chosen vessel unto me.        --Acts ix. 15.
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            [The serpent] fit vessel, fittest imp of fraud, in
            whom
            To enter.                             --Milton.
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   4. (Anat.) Any tube or canal in which the blood or other
      fluids are contained, secreted, or circulated, as the
      arteries, veins, lymphatics, etc.
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   5. (Bot.) A continuous tube formed from superposed large
      cylindrical or prismatic cells (tracheae), which have lost
      their intervening partitions, and are usually marked with
      dots, pits, rings, or spirals by internal deposition of
      secondary membranes; a duct.
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   Acoustic vessels. See under Acoustic.

   Weaker vessel, a woman; -- now applied humorously. "Giving
      honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel." --1 Peter
      iii. 7. "You are the weaker vessel." --Shak.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Vessel \Ves"sel\, v. t.
   To put into a vessel. [Obs.] --Bacon.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

vessel
    n 1: a tube in which a body fluid circulates [syn: vessel,
         vas]
    2: a craft designed for water transportation [syn: vessel,
       watercraft]
    3: an object used as a container (especially for liquids)

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

206 Moby Thesaurus words for "vessel":
   Eustachian tube, Fallopian tube, LC, LSD, LSM, SC,
   aircraft carrier, aircraft tender, ammunition ship, argosy, ark,
   assault transport, bark, battleship, bawley, beaker, bilander,
   blackjack, boat, bomb ketch, bottom, bowl, brig, brigantine,
   bucket, bully, buss, canal, capital ship, caravel, carrier, cat,
   catamaran, chalice, clipper, coast guard cutter, coffee cup,
   communications ship, container, convoy, corsair, corvette, craft,
   cruiser, cutter, dandy, depot ship, destroyer, destroyer leader,
   destroyer tender, dhow, dispatch boat, dreadnought, dromond, duct,
   eagle boat, eggcup, emunctory, escort carrier, escort vessel,
   fire ship, first-rate, fishing smack, fistula, flagship, flattie,
   flattop, four-masted bark, four-master, frigate, fuel ship, galiot,
   galleass, galleon, glass, goblet, guided missile cruiser, gunboat,
   heavy cruiser, highball glass, holder, hooker, horn, hospital ship,
   hoy, hulk, hull, ice yacht, intestines, ironclad, jigger, junk,
   keel, keelboat, ketch, knockabout, landing craft, lateen, lateener,
   leviathan, liberty boat, light cruiser, line-of-battle ship,
   lorcha, loving cup, lugger, meatus, mine sweeper, minisub, monitor,
   mosquito boat, mug, nobby, noggin, ocean racer, ostium, outrigger,
   oviduct, packet, patrol boat, picketboat, pilot boat, pinnace,
   piragua, pirogue, pony, pore, pram, privateer, protected cruiser,
   pungy, racing yacht, raider, ram, receiver, receiving ship,
   receptacle, reconnaissance ship, rigger, rocket boat,
   sailing auxiliary, sailing canoe, sailing dinghy, sailing packet,
   sailing trawler, salpinx, sampan, sandbagger, schooner, schooper,
   scooter, scout, scout cruiser, seaplane carrier, shallop, sharpie,
   shell, ship, ship of war, shipentine, shipplane carrier,
   shot glass, skipjack, sloop, smack, smack boat, snow, spy ship,
   stein, storeship, storm boat, submarine, submarine chaser,
   submarine patrol boat, submarine tender, submersible,
   superdreadnought, sweeper, tankard, tanker, tartan, tassie, teacup,
   tender, thoracic duct, topsail schooner, transport, trimaran,
   troopship, tub, tumbler, turret ship, ureter, urethra, utensil,
   vagina, vas, warship, watercraft, well smack, whaler, wineglass,
   wool-clipper, xebec, yacht, yawl



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

VESSEL, mar. law. A ship, brig, sloop or other craft used in navigation. 1
Boul. Paty, tit. 1, p. 100. See sup.
     2. By an act of congress, approved July 29, 1850, it is provided that
any person, not being an owner, who shall on the high seas, willfully, with.
intent to burn or destroy, set fire to any ship or other vessel, or
otherwise attempt the destruction of such ship or other vessel, being the
property of any citizen or citizens of the United States, or procure the
same to be done, with the intent aforesaid, and being thereof lawfully
convicted, shall suffer imprisonment to hard labor, for a term not exceeding
ten years, nor less than three years, according to the aggravation of the
offence.