bushel

¹ American  

[boosh-uhl] / ˈbʊʃ əl /

noun

• bushels
  plural

1. a unit of dry measure containing 4 pecks, equivalent in the U.S. (and formerly in England) to 2,150.42 cubic inches or 35.24 liters Winchester bushel, and in Great Britain to 2,219.36 cubic inches or 36.38 liters Imperial bushel. bu., bush.

2. a container of this capacity.

3. a unit of weight equal to the weight of a bushel of a given commodity.

4. a large, unspecified amount or number.

   a bushel of kisses.

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bushel ² American  

[boosh-uhl] / ˈbʊʃ əl /

verb (used with object)

busheled, busheling, bushelled, bushelling

1. to alter or repair (a garment).

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bushel ¹ British  

/ ˈbʊʃəl /

noun

1. a Brit unit of dry or liquid measure equal to 8 Imperial gallons. 1 Imperial bushel is equivalent to 0.036 37 cubic metres

2. a US unit of dry measure equal to 64 US pints. 1 US bushel is equivalent to 0.035 24 cubic metres

3. a container with a capacity equal to either of these quantities

4. informal a large amount; great deal

5. to conceal one's abilities or good qualities

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bushel ² British  

/ ˈbʊʃəl /

verb

1. (tr) to alter or mend (a garment)

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bushel Idioms  

1. see hide one's light under a bushel.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• busheler
  noun
• busheller
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• bushels
  plural

Etymology

Origin of bushel¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English bu(i)sshel, bus(s)chel, from Old French boissel, boistiel, equivalent to boisse unit of measure for grain (from assumed Gaulish bostia; compare Middle Irish bas, bos “palm of the hand, handbreadth,” Breton boz “palm of the hand”) + -el noun suffix

Origin of bushel²

1875–80, < German bosseln to patch < French bosseler to emboss; see boss ²

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bushel bushels busheling

The corn and soybean farmer watched as prices fell from $7 a bushel for corn in early 2022 to just $4.29 three years later.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026

By 1935, Ford was using roughly a bushel of soybeans in the manufacture of every automobile.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

Chicago contracts rose by their daily limit of 45 cents a bushel Wednesday, before rising further Thursday.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

Corn futures rose above $7 per bushel in early 2022 as commodities traders weighed fertilizer shortages and supply disruptions.

From MarketWatch ● May 4, 2026

The boys each balanced a bushel on their soup-bowl helmets; the third bushel they carried between them by its handles.

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood

U.S. farmers will produce a record-breaking harvest of 4.52 billion bushels of soybeans in 2026, according to projections from the U.S.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

That’s down 5 million bushels from the agency’s projection last month, and remains the smallest wheat crop grown in the U.S. since 1970.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

For corn, that is slightly higher than analyst estimates of 15.95 billion bushels, while for soybeans, it is lower than expectations of 4.45 billion bushels.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026

Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast 2026 total wheat production to total 1.73 billion bushels.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026

All told, more than a thousand Cherokee homes were laid waste during that winter and some fifty thousand bushels of corn and other provisions either burned or looted.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

They got enough to keep 'em busy busheling the jobs them war correspondents turns in on them.

From Worrying Won't Win by Montague Glass

So his third evil is the busheling and harrying of genius….

From Fate Knocks at the Door A Novel by Will Levington Comfort

He did mostly cutting and fitting, but some "busheling."

From The Negro at Work in New York City A Study in Economic Progress by George Edmund Haynes