hogshead

[ hawgz-hed, hogz- ]

/ ˈhɔgzˌhɛd, ˈhɒgz- /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR hogshead ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a large cask, especially one containing from 63 to 140 gallons (238 to 530 liters).

any of various units of liquid measure, especially one equivalent to 63 gallons (238 liters). Abbreviation: hhd

Nearby words

hogmolly, hognose snake, hognosed skunk, hognut, hogpen, hogshead, hogtie, hogtown, hogue, hogwash, hogweed

Origin of hogshead

1350–1400; Middle English hoggeshed, literally, hog's head; unexplained

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for hogshead

“If BMW is ‘the ultimate driving machine,’ your Anthem is the ultimate differentiator,” writes Hogshead.
Can Self-Help Books Really Make a New You?|Lizzie Crocker|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
This Silenus, with a stomach like a hogshead, still believes himself a danger to womankind.
Cyrano de Bergerac|Edmond Rostand
What she did see was Lionel Hezekiah sitting on the bottom of the hogshead in water that came only to his waist.
Chronicles of Avonlea|Lucy Maud Montgomery
Hogshead is a prettier fellow than Culverin, by two quarts; and Culverin than Musquet, by a full pint.
Thackerayana|William Makepeace Thackeray

As satisfaction he was to get "two hundred & thirty waight of tobacco in leafe & smothed together with one hogshead."
The First Seventeen Years: Virginia 1607-1624|Charles E. Hatch
No, I'm going to bid on the biggest thing there, if it be a hogshead.
Talbot's Angles|Amy E. Blanchard

British Dictionary definitions for hogshead

hogshead

/ (ˈhɒɡzˌhɛd) /

noun

a unit of capacity, used esp for alcoholic beverages. It has several values, being 54 imperial gallons in the case of beer and 52.5 imperial gallons in the case of wine

a large cask used for shipment of wines and spirits

Word Origin for hogshead

C14: of obscure origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012