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Tun vs Puncheon - What's the difference?

tun | puncheon | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between tun and puncheon

is that tun is a large cask; an oblong vessel bulging in the middle, like a pipe or puncheon, and girt with hoops; a wine cask while puncheon is a figured stamp, die, or punch, used by goldsmiths, cutlers, etc.

As a verb tun

is to put into tuns, or casks.

tun

English

Alternative forms

* (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A large cask; an oblong vessel bulging in the middle, like a pipe or puncheon, and girt with hoops; a wine cask.
  • (brewing) A fermenting vat.
  • An old English measure of capacity for liquids, containing 252 wine gallons; equal to two pipes.
  • * 1882 , James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England , p. 205:
    • Again, by 28 Hen. VIII, cap. 14, it is re-enacted that the tun of wine should contain 252 gallons, a butt of Malmsey 126 gallons, a pipe 126 gallons, a tercian or puncheon 84 gallons, a hogshead 63 gallons, a tierce 41 gallons, a barrel 31.5 gallons, a rundlet 18.5 gallons.
  • A weight of 2,240 pounds.
  • An indefinite large quantity.
    • "He therefore sends you, meeter for your spirit,
    This tun of treasure; and, in lieu of this, Desires you let the dukedoms that you claim Hear no more of you. " -- Shakespeare
  • * (rfdate) Dryden
    • A tun of man in thy large bulk is writ.
  • (archaic, humorous, or, derogatory) A drunkard.
  • (zoology) Any shell belonging to and allied genera; called also tun-shell.
  • A part of the ancient Maya Long Count Calendar system which corresponds to 18 winal cycles or 360 days.

    • Verb

  • To put into tuns, or casks.
    • (Boyle)

    Anagrams

    * ----

    puncheon

    English

    Alternative forms

    * punchion

    Noun

    (puncheons)
  • A figured stamp, die, or punch, used by goldsmiths, cutlers, etc.
  • A short, upright piece of timber in framing; a short post; an intermediate stud.
  • A split log or heavy slab of timber with the face smoothed, used for flooring or construction.
  • * 1891 , Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country , Nebraska 2005, p. 7:
    • he chose to regard [his father] with a lowering and suspicious mien, unless it were in the dead hours of the night, when he developed a morbid craving to be trotted back and forth and up and down the puncheon floor [...].
  • A cask used to hold liquids, having a capacity varying from 72 to 120 gallons; a tercian.
  • * 1882 , James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England , p. 205:
    • Again, by 28 Hen. VIII, cap. 14, it is re-enacted that the tun of wine should contain 252 gallons, a butt of Malmsey 126 gallons, a pipe 126 gallons, a tercian or puncheon 84 gallons, a hogshead 63 gallons, a tierce 41 gallons, a barrel 31.5 gallons, a rundlet 18.5 gallons.
  • * 1913 ,
    • Then he went to the scullery, wetted his hands, scooped the last white dough out of the punchion , and dropped it in a baking-tin.