Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A cask; a liquid measure of from 72 to 120 gallons: as, a puncheon of wine.
- noun A perforating- or stamping-tool; a punch.
- noun In carpentry: A short upright piece of timber in framing; a dwarf post, stud, or quarter.
- noun A slab of split timber with the face smoothed with an adz or ax, sometimes used for flooring or bridge-boards in the absence of sawed boards.
- noun One of the small quarters of a partition above the head of a door.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A figured stamp, die, or punch, used by goldsmiths, cutlers, etc.
- noun (Carp.) A short, upright piece of timber in framing; a short post; an intermediate stud.
- noun U.S. A split log or heavy slab with the face smoothed.
- noun A cask containing, sometimes 84, sometimes 120, gallons.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A figured stamp, die, or punch, used by goldsmiths, cutlers, etc.
- noun A short, upright piece of timber in framing; a short post; an intermediate stud.
- noun A split log or heavy slab of
timber with the face smoothed, used forflooring orconstruction . - noun A cask used to hold liquids, having a capacity varying from 72 to 120 gallons; a tercian.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Under the window was a wide bench made of a half log, commonly called a puncheon bench, and the flooring was likewise of puncheons, that is, split logs with the flat side smoothed down.
On the Trail of Pontiac Edward Stratemeyer 1896
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1 A puncheon was the flat surface of a split log, smoothed with an ax and pinned to the joists to make the floors of the rude cabins constructed before sawmills were introduced.
With Sabre and Scalpel. The Autobiography of a Soldier and Surgeon John Allan 1914
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Stumped toes in summer and cracked heels in winter were always in evidence with pupils during my school days, when the country child had a log cabin for a school room and "puncheon" benches for seats, and the farmer boys and girls of the rural neighborhood wore coarse home-fashioned clothes spun and woven in looms at home.
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The table and chairs were made of "puncheon," or slabs of wood, with holes bored under each corner to stick the legs in.
The Story of Young Abraham Lincoln Wayne Whipple 1899
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Innes sent a detail to Great Meadows to retrieve tools left there, and it “erected a puntion puncheon, split timber fort which when compleated must of course be of good service,” Innes predicted.
George Washington’s First War David A. Clary 2011
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Innes sent a detail to Great Meadows to retrieve tools left there, and it “erected a puntion puncheon, split timber fort which when compleated must of course be of good service,” Innes predicted.
George Washington’s First War David A. Clary 2011
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Innes sent a detail to Great Meadows to retrieve tools left there, and it “erected a puntion puncheon, split timber fort which when compleated must of course be of good service,” Innes predicted.
George Washington’s First War David A. Clary 2011
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Innes sent a detail to Great Meadows to retrieve tools left there, and it “erected a puntion puncheon, split timber fort which when compleated must of course be of good service,” Innes predicted.
George Washington’s First War David A. Clary 2011
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His body was a wine-pipe, or a rum-puncheon, or something of that character, and had a truly Falstaffian air.
Archive 2008-12-01 2008
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This canteen (with a funnel on its top, like a cavalier cap slouched over the eyes) was set on edge upon the puncheon, with the hole toward myself; and through this hole, which seemed puckered up like the mouth of a very precise old maid, the creature was emitting certain rumbling and grumbling noises which he evidently intended for intelligible talk.
Archive 2008-12-01 2008
chained_bear commented on the word puncheon
Let's have a puncheon of rum!
February 21, 2007
reesetee commented on the word puncheon
Excellent word! But that's a hell of a lot of rum!
February 21, 2007
bilby commented on the word puncheon
"When the sea was agitated by storm, or even sometimes at high tide, the well would be submerged. It would become invisible to the eye beneath the pounding surf, and those who anticipated the vagaries of the sea would hasten to scoop pails of fresh water and save them in a series of wooden barrels and puncheons secured to the rock above the high-water."
- 'No Great Mischief', Alistair MacLeod.
February 19, 2008
hernesheir commented on the word puncheon
That is to say, "327.32 litres, 11.56 cu feet, 72 gallons, or 2 barrels = 1 puncheon. Says this source.
September 24, 2009
knitandpurl commented on the word puncheon
"Sinkler stepped closer to the entrance and saw two ladder-back chairs and a small table set on a puncheon floor."
"The Trusty" by Ron Rash in the May 23, 2011 issue of the New Yorker, p 69
May 25, 2011