Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Puncheon
Punch′eon
,Noun.
1.
A figured stamp, die, or punch, used by goldsmiths, cutlers, etc.
2.
(Carp.)
A short, upright piece of timber in framing; a short post; an intermediate stud.
Oxf. Gloss.
3.
A split log or heavy slab with the face smoothed;
as, a floor made of
. puncheons
[U.S.]
Bartlett.
4.
[F.
poinçon
, perh. the same as poinçon
an awl.] A cask containing, sometimes 84, sometimes 120, gallons.
Webster 1828 Edition
Puncheon
PUNCH'EON
, n.1.
A small piece of steel, on the end of which is engraved a figure or letter, in creux or relievo, with which impressions are stamped on metal or other substance; used in coinage, in forming the matrices of types, and in various arts.2.
In carpentry, a piece of timber placed upright between two posts, whose bearing is too great; also, a piece of timber set upright under the ridge of a building, wherein the legs of a couple, &c. are jointed.3.
A measure of liquids, or a cask containing usually 120 gallons. Rum or spirits is imported from the West Indies in puncheons, but there are often called also hogsheads.Definition 2024
puncheon
puncheon
See also: Puncheon
English
Alternative forms
- punchion
Noun
puncheon (plural puncheons)
- A figured stamp, die, or punch, used by goldsmiths, cutlers, etc.
- A short, upright piece of timber in framing; a short post; an intermediate stud.
- 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 7:
- he chose to regard [his father] with a lowering and suspicious mien, unless it were in the dead hours of the night, when he developed a morbid craving to be trotted back and forth and up and down the puncheon floor [...].
- A piece of roughly dressed timber with one face finished flat.
- A split log or heavy slab of timber with the face smoothed, used for flooring or construction.
- 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 7:
- A walkway over wet ground constructed by laying planks or dressed timbers over sills set directly on the ground.
- A short low bridge of similar construction. Also called puncheon bridge.
- A cask used to hold liquids, having a capacity varying from 72 to 120 gallons; a tercian.
- 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.
- 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 8
- Then he went to the scullery, wetted his hands, scooped the last white dough out of the punchion, and dropped it in a baking-tin.
- 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, p. 205: