Forms: 1 binn(e, 2–8 binne, 4–6 bynne, byn, 5–7 bene, 7–8 binn, 1– bin. [OE. binn(e str. fem. ‘manger, crib, hutch, bin.’ In later times a good deal confused with BING.
Franck compares Du. beun, MDu. bunne fem. ‘fish-cauf.’ Others would refer OE. binn(e directly to late L. benna, applied to various vessels or receptacles, among others to a ‘hamper’ and a ‘vivarium’ for fish, and apparently identical with benna, given by Festus as a Gaulish name for a kind of vehicle (cf. Welsh ben ‘cart, wagon’), inferred to have been a wicker- or basket-cart, which sense, with that of ‘panier for pack-horse,’ ‘large creel,’ etc., is preserved in It. benna wicker-work sleigh, dung-cart, F. benne ‘grape-gatherer’s creel, fish-cauf, basket-cart for charcoal,’ banne panier, basket-cart (also mod.G. benne, Du. benne, ben, large basket, adopted from Fr., It. or med.L.). If OCeltic benna orig. meant a wicker-work panier (with or without wheels), a root *ben-, *bun- to twist, plait, may as Franck suggests have been common to Celtic and Teutonic. (See Diez, Du Cange benna, in Littré, Scheler benne, in Franck ben, beun.)]
1. gen. A receptacle (orig. of wicker- or basket-work): still used dialectally and technically in the most diverse senses, as seen in the following quotations.
1570. Levins, Manip., A Binne, scrinium vimineum.
1676. Worlidge, Cider (1601), 101. The boards that descend from the hopper or bin.
1787. W. Marshall, Rural Econ. E. Norf. (E. D. S.), Bins, applied provincially to the receptacles of straw in a farm-yard; cow-cribs.
1802. J. Sibbald, Chron. Sc. Poetry, Gloss. (Jam.), Binne, a temporary inclosure or repository made of boards, twigs, or straw-ropes for containing grain or such like.
1863. Morton, Cycl. Agric., Bin or Bing, a space in a barn partitioned off at the side: also a wooden receptacle of any kind.
The following are the chief specific uses:
† 2. The receptacle in a stable for the provender of the beasts; the manger or crib; loosely (?) a stall. Obs. exc. ? dial.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Luke ii. 7. And eft ʓebeʓ hine in binnæ [Rush., Ags., & Hatton G. binne].
971. Blickl. Hom., 11. Arweorþian we Crist on binne asetene.
a. 1000. Ælfric, Colloq., Q. 8. Ic sceal fyllan binnan oxan mid hiʓ.
c. 1305. Leg. Rood (1871), 145. Beestes gan Belwe in eueri binne.
a. 1400. Cov. Myst., 159. In a bestys bynne Bestad in a stalle.
c. 1425. Leg. Rood, 211. God was borne with beest in bynne.
3. A receptacle for holding corn, meal, bread, fruit, and other articles of consumption; a hutch. Also, in later use, for dust (dust-bin), coal, or other things requiring storage for a time.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 595. Wel cowde he kepe a gerner and a bynne.
1481–90. Howard Househ. Bks., 407. A pece of tymbir for the bene in the pantrey iijd.
1580. Baret, Alv., B 700. A Binne or place to put bread in.
1648. Herrick, Poems (1869), 267. A little bin best fits a little bread.
a. 1682. Sir T. Browne, Tracts, 43. They put up their corn in granaries and binns.
1695. Kennett, Par. Antiq., Gloss. s.v. Abunda, Bin, or Bing, a Safe, an Aumbry or Cupboard in a Buttery or Lardar.
1871. J. Walsh (‘Stonehenge’), Horse, xiii. (1877), 193. A bin for oats, beans, and chaff.
4. A partitioned case or stand for storing bottles in a wine-cellar; transf. wine from a particular bin. Also attrib.
1758. T. Warton, in Idler, No. 33, ¶ 5. To remove the five-year-old Port into the new bin on the left hand.
1828. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., III. xxix. 80. Piled on their sides like bottles of wine in a bin.
1864. Tennyson, Aylmer’s F., 405. His richest beeswing from a bin reserved For banquets.
1872. Lever, Ld. Kilgobbin, lxix. 380. He tasted that ‘bin.’
b. in a forcing-house for plants.
1861. Delamer, Kitch. Gard., 104. Though less convenient than the open bins, it is a good plan for economizing space.
5. A large receptacle used in hop-picking. (Cf. Fr. benne ‘hotte a l’usage de vendangeurs.’)
1737. Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Lupulus, A long square Frame of Wood call’d a Binn, with a Cloth hanging on Tenter-hooks within it, to receive the Hops.
1880. Times, 10 Sept., 9/5. Merry parties of pickers round the bins.
1883. J. Y. Stratton, Hops & Hop-pickers, 20. The hops are picked into bins or baskets.
¶ By confusion of spelling = BING.
1695. Kennett, Par. Antiq., Gloss. s.v. Abunda, A Binne of hides or skins is in some countries a quantity for common sale, consisting of thirty three skins or hides.
