The Collaborative International Dictionary
Puncheon \Punch"eon\, n. [F. poin[,c]on awl, bodkin, crown, king-post, fr. L. punctio a pricking, fr. pungere to prick. See Pungent, and cf. Punch a tool, Punction.]
A figured stamp, die, or punch, used by goldsmiths, cutlers, etc.
(Carp.) A short, upright piece of timber in framing; a short post; an intermediate stud.
--Oxf. Gloss.A split log or heavy slab with the face smoothed; as, a floor made of puncheons. [U.S.]
--Bartlett.[F. poin[,c]on, perh. the same as poin[,c]on an awl.] A cask containing, sometimes 84, sometimes 120, gallons.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"barrel or cask for soap or liquor; iron vessel," c.1400, from Old French ponchon, ponson "wine vessel" (13c.), of unknown origin. Uncertain connection with puncheon "slab of timber, strut, wooden beam used as a support in building" (mid-14c.). Punch (n.2) in the drink sense is too late to be the source of the "cask" sense.
"pointed tool for punching or piercing" used by masons, also "die for coining or seal-making," mid-14c.; see punch (n.1). Meaning "stamp, die" is from c.1500, a specialized use.
Wiktionary
alt. 1 A figured stamp, die, or punch, used by goldsmiths, cutlers, etc. 2 A short, upright piece of timber in framing; a short post; an intermediate stud. 3 A cask used to hold liquids, having a capacity varying from 72 to 120 gallons; a tercian. n. 1 A figured stamp, die, or punch, used by goldsmiths, cutlers, etc. 2 A short, upright piece of timber in framing; a short post; an intermediate stud. 3 A cask used to hold liquids, having a capacity varying from 72 to 120 gallons; a tercian.
Wikipedia
Puncheon may refer to:
- Puncheon (barrel), a container for wine and/or spirits
- Puncheon log, a split log or heavy slab of timber with one face smoothed, used for flooring or other construction
- Puncheon rum, a type of Caribbean rum
- Puncheon (unit), a unit of volume
Puncheon was a British unit for beer, wines and spirits. It was also an American unit of capacity for wine.
Also refer English wine cask units
Usage examples of "puncheon".
Hector Puncheon, and he was in Fleet Street at that time because a fire had broken out the previous night in a large City warehouse, destroying a great deal of valuable property and involving the spectacular escapes of three night watchmen and a cat from the roofs of the adjacent buildings.
Hector Puncheon lingered over his paper, reading the Special Friday Feature with approval and appreciating the political cartoon.
Hector Puncheon edged his way up to the bar between two enormous carters and waited modestly for the landlord to finish serving his habitual customers before calling attention to himself.
Carter the Second, jerking his beer off at one gulp and offering a general salute to the company, shouldered his way out, and the little man moved up closer to Hector Puncheon to make way for a florid person in evening dress, who had just shot his way in through the door and now stood swaying a little uncertainly against the bar.
Hector Puncheon, but was positive that he had never seen any of the party before, except the two carters, whom he knew well enough.
Lumley and Eagles along at once, and tell Puncheon to keep in touch with you.
Eagles found no Hector Puncheon at the small eating-house in Finchley from which he had telephoned.
This cheered him so much that he consented to take the Underground at the nearest suitable point, and they journeyed in comparative amity as far as South Kensington Station, and thence to the point indicated by Hector Puncheon, which was, in fact, the entrance to the Natural History Museum.
Hector Puncheon or of Sergeant Lumley, and for a moment the constable hesitated.
He was engaged in the dope traffic and he was suppressed because he had been fool enough to let Puncheon recognize and follow him.
I am not sure, you see, that that vivid, passionate woman at the Rum and Puncheon Inn was the act and that this quiet, disciplined woman at Harewood is the reality.
She was wearing the same cream-and-gold silk dress she had worn at the Rum and Puncheon on the second evening.
He had a vivid memory of kneeling behind her on the bed at the Rum and Puncheon, brushing her hair before making love to her.
Mr Puncheon, seeing this noble prey at his mercy, unprotected by fat bulls of Basan, flung himself upon him with a gleeful cry.
She was wearing the same cream and gold silk dress she had worn at the Rum and Puncheon on the second evening.