buttload
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: buttloads
form: butt-load
form: butt load
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).
Senses: examples: text: BUTT LOAD: about six seams.
ref: 1796, William Marshall, “Provincialisms of West Devonshire”, in The Rural Economy of the West of England, volume 1, page 324:
text: 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.
ref: 1819, Abraham Rees, The Cyclopaedia, volume 31, Salting:
text: 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.
ref: 1839 July 24, Richard Edmonds, “A Statistical Account of the Parish of Madron, containing the Borough of Penzance, in Cornwall”, in Quarterly Journal of the Statistical Society of London, volume 2, page 211:
glosses: A regional English measure of capacity of a heavy cart (a butt), containing 6 seams, or 48 bushels, equivalent to 384 gallons.
examples: text: We spent all day Sunday and picked up a buttload of pecans.
glosses: A large amount carried in a butt.
examples: text: You can collect a metric buttload of data about user activity on your site without too much effort.
ref: 1999, Philip Greenspun, Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing, page 267:
text: 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.
ref: 2004, Theresa Alan, Spur of the Moment, page 264:
text: "Yeah, there's, like, a buttload of gangs at this school."
ref: 2005, Napoleon Dynamite: The Complete Quote Book, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 67:
synonyms: word: abundance
word: arseload
word: assload
word: bellyload
word: boatload
word: brimful
word: busload
word: bucketful
word: bucketload
word: butt-ton
word: bumload
word: buttload
word: cartload
word: crapload
word: deal
word: fuckload
word: fuckton
word: fuckwad
word: great deal
word: hantle
word: heap
word: hecatomb
word: helluvalot
word: horseload
word: lashings
word: load
word: lot
word: mampus
word: many
word: mass
word: metric fuckton
word: metric shitload
word: mickle
word: mountain
word: muckle
word: multiplicity
word: multitude
word: pile
word: ream
word: shedload
word: shitful
word: shitload
word: shitton
word: slew
word: spadeloads
word: sum
word: superflux
word: ton
word: trainload
word: truckload
word: tun
word: vaultful
word: wagonload
glosses: Any large but unspecific amount.
Related terms: english: amount carried by a donkey or any large, unspecified amount; amount carried by a cart or any large, unspecified amount
translation: amount carried by a donkey or any large, unspecified amount; amount carried by a cart or any large, unspecified amount
word: assload and cartload ()
english: of wine or beer, contains two butts
translation: of wine or beer, contains two butts
word: tun
english: of wine or beer, is 126 gallons or one butt
translation: of wine or beer, is 126 gallons or one butt
word: pipe
english: of wine or beer, one-half butt
translation: of wine or beer, one-half butt
word: hogshead
english: of wine or beer, one-quarter butt
translation: of wine or beer, one-quarter butt
word: barrel
word: ton
word: cask
word: keg