Also 5–6 butte, 5–6 but. [app. first adopted in 15th c. (the ME. butte(ü) belongs to BIT sb.3 of the same ultimate origin); a common Romanic word, F. botte, boute, Sp., Pg. bota, It. botte, late L. butta, buttis cask, wine-skin, of unknown origin; not connected with BOOT sb.3
With ‘butt of malmsey’ cf. It. botte di malvasia.]
1. A cask for wine or ale, of capacity varying from 108 to 140 gallons. (Earlier the size was app. much smaller; see quot. 1443; cf. also 1462 in b.) Afterwards also as a measure of capacity = 2 hogsheads, i.e., usually in ale measure 108 gallons, in wine measure 126 gallons; but these standards were not always precisely adhered to.
1443. in Rogers, Agric. & Prices, III. 511/1. [Rhenish 1 butt = 36 gals.].
1483. Act 1 Rich. III., xiii. [The preamble recites that the butt of malmsey formerly held sometimes seven score gallons, and never less than six score; but that through the dishonesty of the merchant strangers it has come to contain ‘scantly five score eight gallons.’]
1500. in Rogers, Agric. & Prices, III. 514/2. [Malmsey 5 butts].
1513. More, Hist. Rich. III. Hastely drouned in a Butte of Malmesey.
1593. Nashe, Christ’s T., 32 a. Buts of Sack and Muscadine.
1610. Shaks., Temp., II. ii. 126. I escap’d vpon a But of Sacke, which the Saylors heaued o’reboord.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., I. Butt, or Pipe, a Liquid Measure, whereof two Hogsheads make a Butt or Pipe, as two Pipes or Butts make one Tun.
1731. Bailey, II. Butt, a large Vessel for Liquids, 120 Gallons of Wine.
1836. H. Coleridge, North. Worthies (1852), I. 22. Did not Joseph Hume graciously receive a butt of cyder?
† b. A cask for fish, fruit, etc., of a capacity varying according to the contents and locality. Obs.
1423. Act 2 Hen. VI., [xi.] xiv. Buttes de Samon … serroient de … iiijll & iiij galons pleinement pakkez [transl. Butts of Salmon … should be of … lxxxiv Gallons fully packed].
1462. in Rogers, Agric. & Prices, III. 315/4. [Salmon (Pershore) 2 pipes at 60/-, 2 butts at 30/-].
1481–90. Howard Househ. Bks., 120. xv. buttes. Schrempes viijd. ijd.
1540. Act 32 Hen. VIII., xiv. For a butte of currantes, iiis. iiiid.
1649. Thorpe, Charge York Assiz., 28. In a Butt of Salmon fourscore and four gallons.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., s.v., A butt of currants, is from fifteen to twenty-two hundred weight.
1753. Maitland, Edinburgh, v. 327. For ilk Bale of Madder or Butt of Prunes, 1/-.
c. fig.
1831. Galt, in Fraser’s Mag., II. 708. This single fact speaks more than butts and tons of declamation.
2. In wider sense: A cask, barrel.
1626. T. Hawkins, Caussin’s Holy Crt., 343. He liueth like a But, which doth nothing, but leake, and roule vp, and downe.
1823. J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 80. To the end which projected overboard, was suspended a water-butt.
a. 1859. L. Hunt, Rob. Hood, II. xxviii. As in a leathern butt of wine Stuck that arrow with a dump.
3. Comb., chiefly attrib., as butt-beer, -cooper, -sling; butt-keeping a., suitable to be kept in butts.
1713. Lond. & Country Brewer, I. (1742), 13. Fine Ales and Butt-beers. Ibid. Many thousand Quarterns of this Malt have been … used … for brewing the Butt-keeping Beers.
1771. Smollett, Humph. Cl., II. 8 June. Whom he treats with … Calvert’s entire butt beer.
1836. Fraser’s Mag., XIV. 477. A pair of butt-slings, strong enough to have held up the cupola of St. Paul’s.
1837. Whittock, Bk. Trades (1842), 161. The Butt-cooper is contined to working for brewers or distillers.
