kilderkin

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English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Late Middle English, from Middle Dutch kinderkin, a variant of kinerkijn, itself a diminutive of kintal. See quintal.

Noun

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kilderkin (plural kilderkins)

  1. A small barrel.
  2. An old English liquid measure, usually being half a barrel; containing 18 English beer gallons, or 83.178 L.
    • 1882: 23 Hen. VIII, cap. 4... The barrel of beer is to hold 36 gallons, the kilderkin 18 gallons the firkin 9. But the barrel, kilderkin, and firkin of ale are to contain 32, 16, and 8 gallons. — James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, Volume 4, p. 205.
    • 1987, Keith Dunstan, The Amber Nectar, Ringwood: Vicking O'Neil, page 81:
      Barrels came in firkins, nine gallons; kilderkins, eighteen gallons; halves, twenty-seven gallons; barrels, thirty-six gallons and hogsheads, fifty-four.

Further reading

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