tun
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /tʌn/
ipa: /tʊn/
homophone: ton
homophone: tonne
rhymes: -ʌn
rhymes: -ʊn
Forms: form: tuns
form: tunne
form: tonne
Etymology: From Middle English tunne, tonne (“cask, barrel”), from Old English tunne (“tun, cask, barrel”), from Proto-Germanic *tunnǭ, *tunnō (“tun, barrel, cask”), from Latin tunna, probably of Gaulish origin.
Cognate with North Frisian tenn (“tun, barrel, cask”), Dutch ton (“tun, barrel, cask”), German Tonne (“tun, barrel, drum”), Danish tønde (“barrel”), Swedish tunna (“barrel, cask, tun”), Icelandic tunna (“barrel”). Compare also Old French tonne, French tonneau (“ton, barrel”), Medieval Latin tunna (“cask”), Middle Irish tunna (“cask”), Welsh tynell (“tun, barrel”). It is uncertain whether the Germanic or the Celtic forms are the original.
Senses: glosses: A large cask; an oblong vessel bulging in the middle, like a pipe or puncheon, and girt with hoops; a wine cask. (See a diagram comparing cask sizes.)
topics: beverages
brewing
business
food
lifestyle
manufacturing
glosses: A fermenting vat.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, page 205:
coordinate_terms: word: rundlet
english: in order of increasing volume
translation: in order of increasing volume
word: ;
word: barrel
word: ;
word: tierce
word: ;
word: hogshead
word: ;
word: puncheon
word: tertian
word: ;
word: pipe
word: butt
glosses: A traditional unit of liquid measure (from the volume of such a cask) equal to 252 wine gallons or 2 pipes.
glosses: Synonym of long ton: a unit of mass equal to 2240 pounds, 20 hundredweights of 112 pounds avoirdupois each.
synonyms: word: long ton
extra: a unit of mass equal to 2240 pounds, 20 hundredweights of 112 pounds avoirdupois each
examples: text: He therefore sends you, meeter for your spirit, / This tun of treasure; and, in lieu of this, / Desires you let the dukedoms that you claim / Hear no more of you.
ref: 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
text: A Tun of Man in thy Large bulk is writ, / But sure thou'rt but a Kilderkin of wit.
ref: 1682, John Dryden, Mac Flecknoe, lines 195–196:
glosses: Synonym of ton: any extremely or excessively large amount.
synonyms: word: ton
extra: any extremely or excessively large amount
glosses: Synonym of drunkard: a person who drinks excessively.
synonyms: word: drunkard
extra: a person who drinks excessively
glosses: Any shell belonging to Tonna and allied genera.
glosses: The cryptobiotic state of a tardigrade, when its metabolism is temporarily suspended.
examples: text: So abundant is the supply of tankards and "tuns" […]
ref: 1900, Douglas Macleane, Pembroke College, page 249:
qualifier: Oxford University; Pembroke College; Oxford University; Pembroke College
glosses: A small silver cup holding half a pint, sometimes having a whistle in the handle that could not be blown until the cup was empty.
glosses: a chimney.
Derived terms: Heidelberg Tun
mash tun
tun-belly