hogshead

Etymology

From Late Middle English hogshead, hagyshed, hogeyshed, hoggesyde, hokkeshed, Middle English hoggeshed, hogges-hed, hogeshed, hoggeshede, hoggesheed, hoggesheudes, hoggesheved, hoggishede, hoggisheed, hoggyssehed, hogyshed, hoogeshed (“measure of liquid capacity equivalent to about 63 gallons; large barrel or cask”, literally “hog’s head”), from hog, hogge (“swine, especially a castrated male swine”) + hed (“animal or human head”), equivalent to hog + 's + head. The connection between the cask and the head of a hog is uncertain, but may refer to the shape of the cask. The word has often been borrowed into other languages as “ox-head”.

noun

1. (Britain) An English measure of capacity for liquids, containing 63 wine gallons, or about 52+¹⁄₂ imperial gallons; a half pipe.
   … their vessels for use are made some of clay, of which sort some are so great as that they will containe more then one hogshead of water. 1632, attributed to J. Day, A Pvblication of Gviana’s Plantation:[…], London: Printed by William Iones for Thomas Paine,[…], →OCLC, page 15
   The best Veſſel for Conveyance, (if you carry above 20 Miles) is, a great Tun that holds five Hogſheads; but if no more than 10, 15, or 20 Miles, ordinary Hogſheads will do well enough. I know by Experience you may ſafely carry 300 Carps, ſix and ſeven Inches long, in one Hogſhead; but from ſeven to a Foot, not ſo many by a fourth Part. 1713, [Roger North], “Of Fishing for Carriage”, in A Discourse of Fish and Fish-ponds,[…], London: Printed for E[dmund] Curll,[…], →OCLC, page 62
   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 31½ gallons, a rundlet 18½ gallons. 1882, James E[dwin] Thorold Rogers, “Weights and Measures”, in A History of Agriculture and Prices in England[…], volumes IV (1401–1582), Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 205
2. A large barrel or cask of indefinite contents, especially one containing from 100 to 140 gallons.
   “… the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like / Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. …” 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, London: John Lane, →OCLC, →OL
   With his silly toupee, like the coat of a shaggy poodle, and his tight Continental tailoring, ill suited to his hogshead physique, Mel was a vision of disingenuousness. 1999, Scott Turow, chapter 46, in Personal Injuries, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, page 187