coomb

Etymology 1

From Middle English *comb, *cumb (> Scots cumb, coom (“tub, cistern”)), from Old English cumb (“a vessel; a liquid measure”), from Proto-Germanic *kumbaz (“bowl, vessel”). Compare German Kumpf (“bowl”). Alternatively, perhaps from Latin cumba (“boat, tomb of stone”), from Ancient Greek κύμβη (kúmbē, “hollow of a vessel, cup, boat”).

noun

1. An old English measure of corn (e.g., wheat), equal to half a quarter or 4 bushels.
   It was equal to half a quarter, i.e. is identical with the coomb of the eastern counties. 1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 1, page 168
   Two kilderkins, or strikes, make a measure called a barrel, liquid, and a coomb, dry; this last term being ancient and little used. July 13, 1790, Thomas Jefferson, U.S. Secretary of State, Plan for establishing uniformity in the Coinage, Weights, and Measures of the United States," report communicated to the House of Representatives

Etymology 2

From Old English cumb, from Proto-Brythonic *komm (compare Welsh cwm), from Proto-Celtic *kumbā.

noun

1. Alternative spelling of combe
   From the centre of each side of this tree-bound square ran avenues east, west, and south into the wide expanse of corn-land and coomb to the distance of a mile or so. 1896, Thomas Hardy, chapter 4, in The Mayor of Casterbridge