A device that controls the flow of water from a pipe, typically found in kitchens and bathrooms.
From Old French 'fausset' meaning a bung or stopper for a wine cask. Medieval French wine merchants needed a way to tap their barrels without losing the precious contents, so they invented these wooden plugs with spouts. The word literally meant 'to make false' because you were creating a false bottom in the barrel!
Every time you turn on your kitchen faucet, you're using technology that medieval French winemakers invented to get drunk more efficiently. The same word that once described tapping a wine barrel now describes accessing clean drinking water — talk about moving up in the world!
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