"range" as a unit of liquid measure?
Joel S. Berson
Berson at ATT.NET
Tue Apr 28 19:25:24 UTC 2009
The following sense of "range", as a unit of liquid measure, does not
seem to be in "range, n.1 and adv.", Draft Rev. Mar. 2009:
"OLD Stout, Vidonia, and Rich Canary Wines, clean Rack'd from the
Lees, ... To be Sold by Range, Pipe, or Hogshead ..."
Boston Gazette, 1739 June 4, 3/1.
The only possible sense I find is 2.d, but for dry measure; "d. A
measure of young timber or underwood. Cf. RINGE n.1 1. Now rare. The
precise nature of the measurement is unclear." The earliest quotation is 1744:
1744 W. ELLIS Mod. Husbandman Jan. xiii. 101 We either have it made
into Faggots to sell into the Vale of Aylesbury, or else fell it in
Ranges. [Eudora apparently took offense at "faggots".]
"ringe, n.1" is simply "A row, line, or long heap of anything." I
would expect in an advertisement that words such as "range", "pipe",
and "hogshead" referred to specific measures, not a vague "line" or
"long heap" of something.
Joel
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