hogshead
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Middle English hoggeshed (literally, “hog's head”). More at hog, head. Often borrowed into other languages as "ox-head".
[edit] Noun
hogshead (plural hogsheads)
- An English measure of capacity for liquids, containing 63 wine gallons, or about 52 1/2 imperial gallons; a half pipe.
- 1882, Again, by 28 Hen. VIII, cap. 14, it is re-enacted that the tun of wine should contain 252 gallons, a butt of Malmsey 126 gallons, a pipe 126 gallons, a tercian or puncheon 84 gallons, a hogshead 63 gallons, a tierce 41 gallons, a barrel 31.5 gallons, a rundlet 18.5 gallons. — James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, p. 205.
- A large cask or barrel, of indefinite contents; especially one containing from 100 to 140 gallons.
[edit] Translations
measure
