hogshead

noun

1. (British)A cask of a certain size; its volume used as a measure of capacity for liquids, containing 63 wine gallons, or about 52+¹⁄₂ imperial gallons (a half pipe).

   “[...] their vessels for use are made some of clay, of which sort some are so great as that they will containe more then one hogshead of water.”

   “The best Veſſel for Conveyance, (if you carry above 20 Miles) is, a great Tun that holds five Hogſheads; but if no more than 10, 15, or 20 Miles, ordinary Hogſheads will do well enough. I know by Experience you may ſafely carry 300 Carps, ſix and ſeven Inches long, in one Hogſhead; but from ſeven to a Foot, not ſo many by a fourth Part.”

   “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 31½ gallons, a rundlet 18½ gallons.”

   “Barrels came in firkins, nine gallons; kilderkins, eighteen gallons; halves, twenty-seven gallons; barrels, thirty-six gallons and hogsheads, fifty-four.”

2. A large barrel or cask of indefinite contents, especially one containing from 100 to 140 gallons.

   “[...] Now the Shippe boaring the Moone with her maine Maſt, and anon ſwallowed with yeſt and froth, as you'ld thruſt a Corke into a hogſhead.”

   “[T]he Wind blowing from the Shore, nothing came to Land that Day, but Pieces of Timber, and a Hogſhead which had ſome Brazil Pork in it, but the Salt-water and the Sand had ſpoil'd it.”

   “I then made another ſign that I wanted Drink. They found by my eating, that a ſmall Quantity would not ſuffice me, and being a moſt ingenious People, they flung up with great dexterity one of their largeſt Hogſheads, then rolled it towards my Hand, and beat out the top; I drank it off at a Draught, which I might well do, for it did not hold half a pint, and taſted like a ſmall Wine of Burgundy, but much more delicious.”

   “So set me down as one that will refuse to come into your treaty, though you should smoke a hogshead of tobacco over it.”

   “As soon as the syrup passes into the coolers, and is met by the air, it grains, and the molasses at once escapes through the sieves into a cistern below. It is then white or loaf sugar of the finest kind—clear, clean, and as white as snow. When cool, it is taken out, packed into hogsheads, and is ready for market.”