Also 8–9 arshine, archine. [Russ.] A measure of length used in Russia and Turkey.
1734. Treaty, in Magens, Insurances, II. 592. English Cloth … two Copyks in Rixdollars for each Archine.
1783. Martyn, Geog. Mag., II. 40. The arshine or Russian ell, equal to twenty-eight and one-tenth inches English.
1819. J. Q. Adams, in C. Davies, Metric Syst. (1871), III. 185. Suwarrow … said to his troops, ‘A soldier’s step is an arsheen.’
1828. Webster, Arshine.
1881. Nature, XXV. 88/2. The new system [of weights and measures in Turkey]…. The archine … is exactly equal to the French metre.
