tun
see also: Tun
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /tʌn/, /tʊn/
Noun

tun (plural tuns)

  1. A large cask; an oblong vessel bulging in the middle, like a pipe or puncheon, and girt with hoops; a wine cask.
  2. (brewing) A fermenting vat.
  3. An old English measure of capacity for liquids, containing 252 wine gallons; equal to two pipes.
    • 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, p. 205:
      Again, by 28 Hen. VIII, cap. 14, it is re-enacted that the tun of wine should contain 252 gallons, a butt of Malmsey 126 gallons, a pipe 126 gallons, a tercian or puncheon 84 gallons, a hogshead 63 gallons, a tierce 41 gallons, a barrel 31.5 gallons, a rundlet 18.5 gallons.
  4. A weight of 2,240 pounds.
  5. An indefinite large quantity.
    • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene ii]:
      He therefore sends you, meeter for your spirit, / This tun of treasure; and, in lieu of this, / Desires you let the dukedoms that you claim / Hear no more of you.
    • 1682, John Dryden, "Mac Flecknoe", lines 195-196:
      A Tun of Man in thy Large bulk is writ, / But sure thou'rt but a Kilderkin of wit.
  6. (archaic, humorous or derogatory) A drunkard.
  7. Any shell belonging to Tonna and allied genera.
  8. The cryptobiotic state of a tardigrade, when its metabolism is temporarily suspended.
Synonyms Verb

tun (tuns, present participle tunning; past and past participle tunned)

  1. (transitive) To put into tuns, or casks.
Noun

tun (plural tuns)

  1. A part of the ancient Maya Long Count Calendar system which corresponds to 18 winal cycles or 360 days.

Tun
Proper noun
  1. Surname



This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002
Offline English dictionary