Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various units of volume or capacity ranging from 63 to 140 gallons (238 to 530 liters), especially a unit of capacity used in liquid measure in the United States equal to 63 gallons (238 liters).
  • noun A large barrel or cask with this capacity.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A large cask for liquors, etc.
  • noun Specifically— A cask having the definite capacity of 63 old wine-gallons, 54 beer-gallons, etc. See def. 2.
  • noun A cask having a capacity of from 100 to 140 gallons: as, a hogshead of sugar, molasses, or tobacco.
  • noun A liquid measure containing 63 old wine-gallons (equal to 52½ imperial gallons), this value having been fixed by an English statute of 1423.
  • noun A draught, as of wine or ale, taken from a cup which forms the head or cover of a jug in the shape of a hog. See Sussex pig, under pig.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An English measure of capacity, containing 63 wine gallons, or about 521/2 imperial gallons; a half pipe.
  • noun United States A large cask or barrel, of indefinite contents; esp. one containing from 100 to 140 gallons.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An English measure of capacity for liquids, containing 63 wine gallons, or about 52 1/2 imperial gallons; a half pipe.
  • noun A large cask or barrel, of indefinite contents; especially one containing from 100 to 140 gallons.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a British unit of capacity for alcoholic beverages
  • noun a large cask especially one holding 63 gals

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English hoggeshed (literally, "hog's head"). More at hog, head. Often borrowed into other languages as "ox-head".

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Examples

  • Briscoe explained how she used cannonballs supposedly left behind after the War of 1812 to weigh down tobacco in hogshead barrels.

    Oral history project offers firsthand recollections of Calvert's past Meghan Russell 2010

  • Briscoe explained how she used cannonballs supposedly left behind after the War of 1812 to weigh down tobacco in hogshead barrels.

    Oral history project offers firsthand recollections of Calvert's past Meghan Russell 2010

  • Two barrels, or coombs, make a measure called a hogshead, liquid, or a quarter, dry; each being the quarter of a ton.

    Reports and Opinions While Secretary of State 1892

  • A serious countenance did he bear as he passed through the two courts which separated his lodging from the festal chamber, and solemn as the gravity of a hogshead was the farewell caution with which he prayed Ludovic to attend his nephew's motions, especially in the matters of wenches and wine cups.

    Quentin Durward Walter Scott 1801

  • Two barrels, or coombs, make a measure called a hogshead, liquid, or a quarter, dry; each being the quarter of a ton.

    Public Papers 1775

  • ** 40 rods*** to the hogshead is the equivalent of 10.48 feet to the gallon, which may or may not say volumes about McCain's energy policy.

    The Inverse Square Blog 2008

  • She was not quite the "hogshead" the landlord declared her to be, but she was one of the worst cases of dropsy I had ever seen.

    Seven Wives and Seven Prisons; Or, Experiences in the Life of a Matrimonial Monomaniac. a True Story L. A. Abbott

  • A serious countenance did he bear as he passed through the two courts which separated his lodging from the festal chamber, and solemn as the gravity of a hogshead was the farewell caution with which he prayed Ludovic to attend his nephew’s motions, especially in the matters of wenches and wine cups.

    Quentin Durward 2008

  • She was not quite the "hogshead" the landlord declared her to be, but she was one of the worst cases of dropsy I had ever seen.

    Seven Wives and Seven Prisons Abbott, L. A. 1870

  • I always wondered why two pipes in liquid measure were called a hogshead; now I know; it was on account of their great capacity.”

    Memories and Anecdotes Sanborn, Kate, 1839-1917 1915

Comments

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  • "Cask holding 54 imperial gallons ( 243 liters )."

    Beer Glossary

    October 7, 2007

  • "No wonder that these small and high-colored apples are thought to make the best cider. Loudon quotes from the Herefordshire Report that 'apples of a small size are always, if equal in quality, to be preferred to those of a larger size, in order that the rind and kernel may bear the greatest proportion to the pulp, which affords the weakest and most watery juice.' And he says, that, 'to prove this, Dr. Symonds of Hereford, about the year 1800, made one hogshead of cider entirely from the rinds and cores of apples, and another from the pulp only, when the first was found of extraordinary strength and flavor, while the latter was sweet and insipid.'" - 'Wild Apples', Henry David Thoreau.

    December 14, 2007

  • "Here is the unadulterated ale of father Adam--better than Cognac, Hollands, Jamaica, strong beer, or wine of any price; here it is, by the hogshead or the single glass, and not a cent to pay!" from "A Rill From the Town Pump" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

    September 23, 2009

  • Two hogsheads = one butt.

    August 29, 2010