tun
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: beverages
brewing
business
food
lifestyle
manufacturing
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.
Inflected forms:
form: tuns
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: tunne
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: tonne
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: tuns
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: tunning
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: tunned
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: tunned
pos: verb
tags: past
form: tunne
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: tonne
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: 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.)
pos: noun
gloss: A fermenting vat.
pos: noun
gloss: A traditional unit of liquid measure (from the volume of such a cask) equal to 252 wine gallons or 2 pipes.
pos: noun
tags: historical
examples: 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.
gloss: Synonym of long ton: a unit of mass equal to 2240 pounds, 20 hundredweights of 112 pounds avoirdupois each.
pos: noun
gloss: Synonym of ton: any extremely or excessively large amount.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: 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.
A Tun of Man in thy Large bulk is writ, / But sure thou'rt but a Kilderkin of wit.
gloss: Synonym of drunkard: a person who drinks excessively.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
derogatory
humorous
gloss: Any shell belonging to Tonna and allied genera.
pos: noun
gloss: The cryptobiotic state of a tardigrade, when its metabolism is temporarily suspended.
pos: noun
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: So abundant is the supply of tankards and "tuns" […]
gloss: a chimney.
pos: noun
tags: UK
dialectal
gloss: To put into tuns, or casks.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Strong beer that is brewed in small quantities, and ale, whatever the quantity may be, should be tunned the second day after brewing; and small beer should be tunned as soon as it has fairly taken the yeast
Derived words: Heidelberg Tun
mash tun
tun-belly
tundish
tunful
tunlike
tunnage
Translations: