firkin
/ˈfəːkɪn
/noun
1A small cask formerly used for liquids, butter, or fish.If that wasn't enough he has provided T-shirts for the gang to wear on the ride (no yellow jerseys required) and thrown in five firkins of beer....
- Her own father was a cooper in Kilaville and made the firkins there.
- But Craig, a former club footballer and referee, is confident the team has a good chance of winning and has donated a firkin to the players for after the game.
1.1A unit of liquid volume equal to half a kilderkin (usually 9 imperial gallons or about 41 litres).If you take a barrel to be two kilderkins and a kilderkin to be two firkins (which are themselves, of course, nine gallons), then the saving works out at about 14p per pint....
- Other sizes were the firkin, kilderkin and hogshead.
- Five firkins - that's about 360 pints or 41 litres - of Black Satin, his latest brew, were snapped up from his brewery.
Origin
Middle English ferdekyn, probably from the Middle Dutch diminutive of vierde 'fourth' (a firkin originally contained a quarter of a barrel).