The amount a bowl can hold; the contents of a full bowl.
From 'bowl' + '-ful' (suffix meaning the amount that fills something). This word emerged in Middle English to express container capacity.
The plural of 'bowlful' is contested—you can say 'bowlfuls' or 'bowls full'—and this tiny grammatical debate reveals how English speakers constantly negotiate between treating 'bowl' as the thing being measured versus the unit of measurement!
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