"open large-mouthed vessel," mid-14c., from Old Norse bikarr or Middle Dutch beker "goblet," probably (with Old Saxon bikeri, Old High German behhari, German Becher) from Medieval Latin bicarium, which is probably a diminutive of Greek bikos "earthenware jug, wine jar, vase with handles," also a unit of measure, a word of uncertain origin.

It is sometimes said to be a Semitic word, perhaps a borrowing from Syrian buqa "a two-handed vase or jug," or from Egyptian b:k.t "oil flask." The form has been assimilated in English to beak. Originally a drinking vessel; attested by 1877 in reference to a similar glass vessel used in scientific laboratories.

O for a beaker full of the warm South,

  Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,

    With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,

      And purple-stained mouth;

That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,

  And with thee fade away into the forest dim:

[Keats, from "Ode to a Nightingale"]

also sea-sick, "affected with nausea from the motion of a vessel," 1560s, from sea + sick (n.). Related: Seasickness. Middle English se-sik meant "weary of travelling on the sea" (mid-15c.).

1580s, from French frégate (1520s), from Italian fregata (Neapolitan fregate), which with many names for types of sea vessels is of unknown origin. It is common to the Mediterranean languages (Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan fragata). Originally a small, swift vessel; the word was applied to progressively larger types over the years.

[A] light nimble vessel built for speed; employed in particular for the gleaning of intelligence and the protection and assault of trade-routes. In battle the frigates took station on the disengaged side of the fleet, where they repeated signals, sped on messages, and succoured the distressed. [Sir Geoffrey Callender, "Sea Passages," 1943]

In the old sailing navy usually they carried guns on a raised quarter-deck and forecastle, hence frigate-built (1650s) of a vessel having the quarter-deck and forecastle raised above the main-deck.

kind of small, strong, two-masted sailing vessel, 1650s, earlier catch (mid-15c.), cache (late 14c.), probably from Middle English cacchen "to capture, ensnare, chase" (see catch (v.)). Compare the sense development in yacht.

early 15c., "action or process of making a ship secure in a particular place by means of anchors, cables, etc.," verbal noun from moor (v.). From 1775 as "place where a vessel can be moored" (compare moorings). 

also sauce-pan, 1680s, "small metallic cooking vessel with a long handle," from sauce (n.) + pan (n.). Originally a pan for cooking sauces, now in more general use.

also hooka, 1763, via Hindi or Persian or directly from Arabic huqqah "small box, vessel" (through which the smoke is drawn), related to huqq "a hollow place." Extended in Urdu to the whole apparatus.

1831, Modern Latin, from Greek telos "end" (see telos), + angeion "vessel" (see angio-), + ektasis "a stretching out, extension, dilation," from ek (see ex-) + tasis "a stretching, tension, intensity" (from PIE root *ten- "to stretch") + abstract noun ending -ia.

early 14c., "type of cask, large storage container;" mid-14c., "large vessel for storing wine," from Old French pipe "liquid measure, cask for wine," from a special use of Vulgar Latin *pipa "a pipe" (see pipe (n.1)).

"two-masted square-rigged vessel," 1720, colloquial shortening of brigantine (q.v.). The meaning "a ship's jail" is by 1841, American English, perhaps from the use of such vessels as prison ships upon retirement from active duty.