oxhiden.adj.
/ˈɒkshʌɪd/, U.S. /ˈɑksˌ(h)aɪd/ A. n.† 2. A supposed measure of land, defined as the area that could be enclosed by a hide cut into narrow strips. Obsolete. rare.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.
1. The hide of an ox; leather made from this.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > skin or hide > [noun] > skin of bull, cow, or ox
bull-hidec1275
oxhidec1350
bull-skinc1400
ox-skin?a1450
huddron1592
cowhide1640
cow-skin1780
steerhide1921
c1350 Nominale (Cambr. Ee.4.20) in Trans. Philol. Soc. (1906) 11* Homme curreie quere de boef, M[an]. tawith an oxe-hyde.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) i. 165 Dido..bouȝte as moche lond as sche myȝte byclippe wiþ an ox hide, and kutte þe hyde into a þong..and biclipped þerwiþ a grete place, and cleped hit Byrsa.
1425–6 in W. G. Benham Red Paper Bk. Colchester (1902) 49 (MED) White Tawyers..leyen many diverse hides, that is to seyen, horshides, oxhides, bolehides, calvesskynnes.
1497 in M. Oppenheim Naval Accts. & Inventories Henry VII (1896) 229 An Oxe hyde all Redie coryed & Tanned.
1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie iv. xxxiv. 156 b Their headpeece was of a raw oxe hide.
1667 W. Petty in T. Sprat Hist. Royal-Soc. 290 Allum is used in the dressing of Aluta or white Leather, the which it dryeth, as the Salt of Hen-dung doth in Ox-hides.
1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations I. i. xi. 291 An ox hide which weighs four stone of sixteen pounds averdupois, is not in the present times reckoned a bad one. View more context for this quotation
1794 W. Felton Treat. Carriages I. 224 The best leather is the ox hide, called neats leather.
1847 J. H. Ingraham Free-trader iv. 15 As she spoke, she placed an old chair with a bottom of smooth oxhide for her.
1950 Amer. Midland Naturalist 44 103 The skin [of tiger sharks] is tough, having a tensile strength six to ten times that of oxhide.
2002 N. Drury Dict. Esoteric 24/1 Avesta, sacred book of Zoroastrianism, said to have been written in gold ink on 12,000 ox hides.
ΚΠ
1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products 270/1 Ox-hide,..a measure of land, as much as could be encircled by a hide cut into narrow strips. [Also in later dictionaries.]
B. adj. (attributive).
Made of oxhide.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > skin or hide > [adjective] > made of skin or hide of specific animals
buckskin1565
buffle1577
sheepskin1602
oxhide?1609
goatskin?1614
hogskin1658
cowhide1823
goat1833
parfleche1845
shagreened1847
pigskin1855
alligator1861
lizard-skin1895
parfleched1940
?1609 G. Chapman tr. Homer Twelue Bks. Iliads v. 79 The Greekes and Troians made debate, Layd lowd strookes on their Ox-hide shields, and bucklers easely borne.
1804 W. Clark in Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Expedition (1905) VI. 278 Necessary stores [include]..1 Watch Coat, 2 pr ox hide Shoes.
1883 M. P. Bale Saw-mills 191 The strength of best oxhide belts, used for belting, has been calculated at about 3,086 lbs. per square inch of section.
1919 Jrnl. Rom. Stud. 9 179 The fact that these were still visible in Ligorio's time shows that the oxhide covering..had not yet been placed at the back of the picture.
1992 Canad. Geographic Jan. 84/1 Irish monks..who had bobbed across the ocean in ox-hide boats to fantastic lands.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.adj.c1350