Glass Onion

Glass onions were large hand blown glass bottles used aboard sailing ships to hold wine or brandy. For increased stability on rough seas, the bottles were fashioned with a wide-bottom shape to prevent toppling, thus making the bottles look somewhat onion-shaped.


Famous quotes containing the words glass and/or onion:

    “Like a wild stranger out of wizard-land
    He dwelt a little with us, and withdrew;
    Black and unblossomed were the ways he knew,
    Dark was the glass through which his fire eye shined.”
    —Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935)

    “Let onion atoms lurk within the bowl,
    And, scarce suspected, animate the whole.”
    —Sydney Smith (1771–1845)