puncheon

¹ American  

[puhn-chuhn] / ˈpʌn tʃən /

noun

1. a large cask of varying capacity, but usually 80 gallons (304 liters).

2. the volume of such a cask, used as a measure.

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puncheon ² American  

[puhn-chuhn] / ˈpʌn tʃən /

noun

1. a heavy slab of timber, roughly dressed, for use as a floorboard.

2. a short, upright framing timber.

3. (in goldsmith work)

   1. any of various pointed instruments; a punch.

   2. a stamping tool.

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puncheon ¹ British  

/ ˈpʌntʃən /

noun

1. a large cask of variable capacity, usually between 70 and 120 gallons

2. the volume of such a cask used as a liquid measure

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puncheon ² British  

/ ˈpʌntʃən /

noun

1. a short wooden post that is used as a vertical strut

2. a less common name for punch 2

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Etymology

Origin of puncheon¹

1425–75; Middle English ponchoun, punchon < Middle French ponçon, perhaps to be identified with puncheon ²

Origin of puncheon²

1325–75; Middle English ponson, punçon, ponchoun < Middle French ponçon < Latin pūnctiōn- (stem of pūnctiō ) a pricking, hence, pricking tool, equivalent to pūnct ( us ) (past participle of pungere to prick; cf. point) + -iōn- -ion

Example Sentences

Some live in cabins with a huge log wall, Nary a window in it at all, Sandstone chimney and a puncheon floor, Clapboard roof and a button door .

From Time Magazine Archive

After Shipper Gumming had loaded on every puncheon of sugar and molasses the ship would hold, some odd space remained.

From Time Magazine Archive

On the barren slope above Blackjack Mine, Bracky Baldridge owned a garden patch, a shack with puncheon floors, a black birch tree.

From Time Magazine Archive

Here the boy's fury broke all bounds of self-restraint and he tore up and down and across the puncheon floor, bandishing his two fists, distraught and choked with an avalanche of impassioned, inarticulate words.

From The Red Debt Echoes from Kentucky by MacDonald, Everett

You might get one oil puncheon into the launch.

From For Jacinta by Bindloss, Harold