What is "pint"

Pint \Pint\, n. [OE. pinte, F. pinte, fr. Sp. pinta spot, mark, pint, fr. pintar to paint; a mark for a pint prob. having been made on or in a larger measure. See Paint.] A measure of capacity, equal to half a quart, or four gills, -- used in liquid and dry measures. See Quart.

Pint \Pint\, n. (Zo["o]l.) The laughing gull. [Prov. Eng.]

mid-14c., from Old French pinte "liquid measure, pint" (13c.), probably from Vulgar Latin *pincta (source of Old Provençal, Spanish, Italian pinta), altered from Latin picta "painted," fem. past participle of pingere "to paint" (see paint (v.)), on notion of a painted mark on a vessel indicating this measure. Used elliptically for "pint of ale" (or beer) from 1742. Pint-sized "small" (especially in reference to children) is recorded from 1938.

n. 1 A unit of volume, equivalent to ⅛ of a gallon or 2 # in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations approximately 568 millilitres (an '''imperial pint''') and 3 # in the United States approximately 4 ## 473 millilitres for liquids (a '''US liquid pint''') or 5 ## 551 millilitres for dry goods (a '''US dry pint'''). 6 # hungarian pint 1,696 liter 7 (context British English) A pint of milk. 8 (context euphemistic English) A glass of beer, served by the pint.

1. n. a British imperial capacity measure (liquid or dry) equal to 4 gills or 568.26 cubic centimeters

2. a United States dry unit equal to 0.5 quart or 33.6 cubic inches [syn: dry pint]

3. a United States liquid unit equal to 16 fluid ounces; two pints equal one quart

The pint (abbreviated as "pt" or "p") is a unit of volume or capacity in both the United States customary and British imperial measurement systems. In both of those systems it is traditionally one-eighth of a gallon. The British pint is about 20% larger than the American pint since the two systems are not compatible. Almost all other countries have standardized on the metric system, so the size of what may be called a pint varies depending on local custom.

The imperial pint (≈ 568 ml) is used in the United Kingdom and Ireland and to a limited extent in Commonwealth nations. In the United States, two pints are used: a liquid pint (≈ 473 ml) and a less-common dry pint (≈ 551 ml). Each of these pints is one-eighth of its respective gallon but the gallons differ and the imperial pint is about 20% larger than the US liquid pint. This difference dates back to 1824, when the British Weights and Measures Act standardised various liquid measures throughout the British Empire, while the United States continued to use the earlier English measures. The imperial pint consists of 20 imperial fluid ounces and the US liquid pint is 16 US fluid ounces, making the imperial fluid ounce about 4% smaller than the US fluid ounce.

All of the other former British colonies such as Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand converted to the metric system in the 1960s and 1970s, so while the term "pint" may still be in common use in these countries, it may no longer refer to the British imperial pint once used throughout the British Empire. In the United Kingdom, the imperial pint is still the primary unit for draught beer and cider, as it is for milk sold in returnable bottles. In the UK, legislation mandates that draught beer and cider may be sold by the imperial pint in perpetuity, and in public houses can only be sold in a third of a pint, two-thirds of a pint or multiples of half a pint, which must be served in stamped measured glasses or from government-stamped meters. It must, of course, be the standard British imperial pint rather than the 17% smaller American pint. A pint of beer served in a tavern outside the United Kingdom and the United States may be measured by other standards, and may be a British imperial pint, an American pint, a half- litre beer stein, or some other measure reflecting national and local laws and customs .

Historically, units called a pint (or the equivalent in the local language) were used across much of Europe, with values varying between countries from less than half a litre to over one litre. Within continental Europe, the pint was replaced with the metric system during the 19th century, but the term is still in limited use in parts of France, Quebec ("une pinte"), and Central Europe, notably some areas of Germany and Switzerland, colloquially used for roughly half a litre.