firkin
Americannoun
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a British unit of capacity usually equal to a quarter of a barrel.
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a small wooden vessel or tub for butter, lard, etc.
noun
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a small wooden barrel or similar container
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a unit of capacity equal to nine gallons
Etymology
Origin of firkin
1400–50; late Middle English ferdkyn, firdekyn, equivalent to ferde (variant of ferthe fourth ) + -kin -kin
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He uses an antique wooden firkin once used for storing flour and sugar to sit on that the older French speaking duck hunters call a “bedon.”
From Washington Times ● Jun. 21, 2020
In the flesh, Ruth Davidson, 37, is a firkin of fun, speaks with a machine-gun delivery and can hold her own.
From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2016
There's Patrick, my brother, way over in Ireland—the last time I saw him I wasn't taller than that butter firkin.
From Little Ferns For Fanny's Little Friends by Fern, Fanny
The periwigs and drum-heads fry Like to a butter firkin; A woeful burning did betide To many a good buff jerkin.
From Shakespearean Playhouses A History of English Theatres from the Beginnings to the Restoration by Adams, Joseph Quincy
We put on a hogshead of sugar, twenty-five hams, a sack of coffee, box of tea, firkin of butter, barrel of potatoes, some hominy, beans, canned fruits, etc.
From Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi by Devol, George H.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
