Noun

(en noun)

A large tub, such as is used for making wine or for tanning.

A square, hollow place on the back of a calcining furnace, where tin ore is laid to dry.

(Roman Catholic) A vessel for holding holy water.

(dated) A liquid measure and dry measure; especially, a liquid measure in Belgium and Holland, corresponding to the hectolitre of the metric system, which contains 22.01 imperial gallons, or 26.4 standard gallons in the United States. (The old Dutch grain vat averaged 0.762 Winchester bushel. The old London coal vat contained 9 bushels. The solid-measurement vat of Amsterdam contains 40 cubic feet; the wine vat, 241.57 imperial gallons, and the vat for olive oil, 225.45 imperial gallons.)

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.