khous

English

Noun

khous (plural khoes)

1. Alternative form of chous (“ancient Greek unit”).
   • 1970, Frank Donovan, Prepare Now for a Metric Future, New York, N.Y.: Weybright and Talley, →LCCN, page 6:

     The two oldest Greek measures definitely marked as standards date from 550 b.c. and were found in excavations at the Acropolis at Athens. One is a cylindrical corn measure, a khous, which was equal to half the Babylonian log. The other is a water clock marked 2 khous that has a capacity of 393 cubic inches.

   • 1986, Douglas M[aurice] MacDowell, Spartan Law (Scottish Classical Studies; 1), Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, →ISBN, page 112:

     The amounts of the contributions which each member of a mess had to make each month are said by Plutarch to have been 1 medimnos of barley-meal, 8 khoes of wine, 5 mnai of cheese, 2½ mnai of figs, and ‘a very small amount of money’ for buying additional items of food (Lyk. 12.3).

   • 2001, H[arry] N[orman] Turteltaub, Over the Wine-Dark Sea, New York, N.Y.: Forge, Tom Doherty Associates, →ISBN, page 112:

     When I was in Athens, I could get a khous of Khian for two drakhmai, and one of those jars won’t hold above seven khoes.

   • 2001, John T. Kirby, World Eras, volumes 6 (Classical Greek Civilization, 800-323 B.C.E.), Detroit, Mich.: Gale Group, →ISBN, page 360, column 2:

     Drinking khoes of wine was part of the celebration at the Anthesteria.