Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

buttload

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.82 in modern English

Syllables: but-t-load
IPA

11

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

3

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A regional English measure of capacity of a heavy cart (a butt), containing 6 seams, or 48 bushels, equivalent to 384 gallons.

British usage; Obsolete

noun

A large amount carried in a butt.

British usage; Dated

noun

Any large but unspecific amount.

Slang

Example Sentences

"BUTT LOAD: about six seams."
"The farmers near the fishing towns in the same district [Cornwall] likewise buy the refuse of bruised and small pilchards, which are rejected as unfit for curing or the market, and are called caff, four cart-loads of twelve bushels each being considered as the quantity proper for an acre. […] The butt-load formerly cost about 9s. or 10s. but they now fetch 15s. or 20s. the load."
"The different kinds of manure usually employed in this neighbourhood are sea-weed, sand, stable-dung, ashes, and fish-dung. The quantities vary so much according to the condition of the land and other circumstances that it is impossible to state with any degree of accuracy what quantity is applied to the acre. In one of the conditions of leases previously quoted, it is stipulated that 10 butt-loads of good town or fish dung, and 10 butt-loads of sea-sand (to be mixed with the necessary quantity of earth) shall be carried for every acre broken up for tillage."
"We spent all day Sunday and picked up a buttload of pecans."
"You can collect a metric buttload of data about user activity on your site without too much effort."
"Anyway, they are paying me a buttload of money to do this series, and I want to share my good fortune with you and that's that."

Etymology

From butt + load. Butt in this context may be possibly one or both of: * butt (“large wooden cask”) (Etymology 3) * butt (“two-wheeled cart”) (Etymology 5) Alternatively, the term may either be a corruption of English boatload or have been influenced by that term (except for the specific, West Country dialect sense). All senses above also synchronically reanalyzed as buttocksful.

Usage

Inflected Forms

buttloads (plural) butt-load (alternative) butt load (alternative)

Frequently Paired Words

tun pipe hogshead barrel ton cask keg cartload

Synonyms

buttful assload shitload boatload cartload shedload abundance battalion arseload bellyload brimful busload

Questions

What does buttload mean?: A regional English measure of capacity of a heavy cart (a butt), containing 6 seams, or 48 bushels, equivalent to 384 gallons.
Where does buttload come from?: From butt + load. Butt in this context may be possibly one or both of: * butt (“large wooden cask”) (Etymology 3) * butt (“two-wheeled cart”) (Etymology 5) Alternatively, the term may either be a corruption of English boatload or have been influenced by that term (except for the specific, West Country dialect sense). All senses above also synchronically reanalyzed as buttocksful.

How to pronounce buttload

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