tret [was: tare]

[Joel S. Berson]

Often conjoined with "tare", "tret" has a definition in the OED that
seems unusually specific for our post-modern times: "An allowance of
4 lb. in 104 lb. (= 1/ 26) on goods sold by weight after the
deduction for tare."  Although the note below this hedges --  "The
reason or ground of the allowance was apparently forgotten already in
the 17th c., and has been variously given since: see quots." -- I
wonder if the definition should be generalized.

Joel

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