hogshead
/ˈhɑɡzˌhɛd/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.89 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A cask of a certain size; its volume used as a measure of capacity for liquids, containing 63 wine gallons, or about 52+¹⁄₂ imperial gallons (a half pipe).
British usage
noun
A large barrel or cask of indefinite contents, especially one containing from 100 to 140 gallons.
Example Sentences
- "[...] their vessels for use are made some of clay, of which sort some are so great as that they will containe more then one hogshead of water."
- "The best Veſſel for Conveyance, (if you carry above 20 Miles) is, a great Tun that holds five Hogſheads; but if no more than 10, 15, or 20 Miles, ordinary Hogſheads will do well enough. I know by Experience you may ſafely carry 300 Carps, ſix and ſeven Inches long, in one Hogſhead; but from ſeven to a Foot, not ſo many by a fourth Part."
- "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 31½ gallons, a rundlet 18½ gallons."
- "Barrels came in firkins, nine gallons; kilderkins, eighteen gallons; halves, twenty-seven gallons; barrels, thirty-six gallons and hogsheads, fifty-four."
- "[...] Now the Shippe boaring the Moone with her maine Maſt, and anon ſwallowed with yeſt and froth, as you'ld thruſt a Corke into a hogſhead."
- "[T]he Wind blowing from the Shore, nothing came to Land that Day, but Pieces of Timber, and a Hogſhead which had ſome Brazil Pork in it, but the Salt-water and the Sand had ſpoil'd it."
Etymology
From Late Middle English hogshead, hagyshed, hogeyshed, hoggesyde, hokkeshed, Middle English hoggeshed, hogges-hed, hogeshed, hoggeshede, hoggesheed, hoggesheudes, hoggesheved, hoggishede, hoggisheed, hoggyssehed, hogyshed, hoogeshed (“measure of liquid capacity equivalent to about 63 gallons; large barrel or cask”, literally “hog’s head”), from hog, hogge (“swine, especially a castrated male swine”) + hed (“animal or human head”), equivalent to hog + -s- + head. The connection between the cask and the head of a hog is uncertain, but may refer to the shape of the cask. The word has often been borrowed into other languages as “ox-head”.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈhɑɡzˌhɛd/
- British English: /ˈhɒɡzˌhɛd/
Usage
- British usage
Inflected Forms
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
Synonyms
hhd.