bushel

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(bʊsh'əl) pronunciation
n.
  1. (Abbr. bsh. or bu.)
    1. A unit of volume or capacity in the U.S. Customary System, used in dry measure and equal to 4 pecks, 2,150.42 cubic inches, or 35.24 liters.
    2. A unit of volume or capacity in the British Imperial System, used in dry and liquid measure and equal to 2,219.36 cubic inches or 36.37 liters.
  2. A container with the capacity of a bushel.
  3. Informal. A large amount; a great deal: We have bushels of time, so relax.

[Middle English, from Anglo-Norman bussel, variant of Old French boissiel, from boisse, one sixth of a bushel, of Celtic origin.]


bush·el2 (bʊsh'əl) pronunciation
tr.v., -eled, or -elled, -el·ing, or -el·ling, -els, or -els.
To alter or mend (clothing).

[Probably from German bosseln, to do odd jobs, alteration (perhaps influenced by bosseln, to emboss) of basteln, to rig up, mend, probably from Bast, bast fiber (used to make rope), from Middle High German bast, from Old High German.]

busheler bush'el·er or bush'el·ler n.
bushelman bush'el·man (-mən) n.

A traditional dry measure of capacity, equivalent to 80 lb of distilled water at 17 °C with a barometer reading of 30 inches, i.e. 8 imperial gallons (36.4 L); used as a measure of corn, potatoes, etc. The American (Winchester) bushel is 3% larger.

The weight of a bushel varies with the product: wheat 27 kg, maize and rye 25 kg, barley 22 kg, paddy rice 20 kg, oats 14.5 kg.

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noun

    An indeterminately great amount or number: jillion, million (often used in plural), multiplicity, ream, trillion. Informal gob, heap (often used in plural), load (often used in plural), lot, oodles, passel, peck, scad (often used in plural), slew, wad, zillion. See big/small/amount.

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To convert from bushels to:

cu. ft, multiply by 1.2445.
cu. in, multiply by 2150.4.
cu. meters, multiply by .03524.
liters, multiply by 35.24.
pecks, multiply by 4.
pint (dry), multiply by 64.
quarts (dry), multiply by 32.

Convert:  Into: 
Result: 

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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: n. - A United States dry measure equal to 4 pecks or 2152.42 cubic inches; A British imperial capacity measure (liquid or dry) equal to 4 pecks. v. - Restore by replacing a part or putting together what is torn or broken.

pronunciation A word to the wise is enough, and many words won't fill a bushel. — Benjamin Franklin. Source: Poor Richard's Almanac, 1758, Preface: Courteous Reader

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categories related to 'bushel'

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Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
For a list of words related to bushel, see:
  • U.S. System - bushel: cubic measure equal to 2150 cubic inches
  • Farming and Crops - bushel: unit of dry measure for grain or fruit equal to 4 pecks or 32 quarts


  See crossword solutions for the clue Bushel.
A full bushel is lower right represented by a basket.

A bushel is an imperial and U.S. customary unit of dry volume, equivalent in each of these systems to 4 pecks or 8 gallons. It is used for volumes of dry commodities (not liquids), most often in agriculture. It is abbreviated as bsh. or bu. In modern usage, the dry volume is usually only nominal, with bushels referring to standard weights instead.

Queensland Government Standard Imperial Bushel. Queensland Museum
Contents

Etymology

The name derives from the 14th century buschel or busschel, a box.[1]

Precise definitions

  • 1 U.S. bushel = 8 corn/dry gallons = 2150.42 cu in ≈ 35.2391 litre ≈ 9.30918 wine/liquid gallons. The original definition was the volume of a cylinder 18.5 in (46.99 cm) in diameter and 8 in (20.32 cm) high, which gives an irrational number of cubic inches, but later this bushel was redefined as 2150.42 cubic inches, about 1 part per million less.
  • 1 imperial bushel = 8 imperial gallons ≈ 36.3687 litres ≈ 2219.36 cu in
  • 1 bushel = 4 pecks
  • 4 bushels = 1 coomb

Use as unit of weight

A table of weights from the secretaries of the different states, showing the number of pounds which their laws recognize as a bushel of different articles. c. 1854

Bushels are now most often used as units of mass or weight rather than of volume. The bushels in which grains are bought and sold on commodity markets or at local grain elevators, and for reports of grain production, are all units of weight.[2] This is done by assigning a standard weight to each commodity that is to be measured in bushels. These bushels depend on the commodities being measured and the moisture content. Some of the more common ones are:

  • Oats
    • USA: 32 lb[2] = 14.5150 kg
    • Canada: 34 lb = 15.4221 kg
  • Barley: 48 lb[2] = 21.7724 kg
  • Malted barley: 34 lb = 15.4221 kg
  • Shelled maize (corn) at 15.5% moisture by weight: 56 lb[2] = 25.4012 kg
  • Wheat at 13.5% moisture by weight and soybeans at 13% moisture by weight: 60 lb[2] = 27.2155 kg

Other specific values are defined (and those definitions may vary within different jurisdictions, including from state to state in the United States) for other grains, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables, coal, hair, and many other commodities.

Government policy in the United States is to phase out units such as the bushel and replace them with metric mass equivalents.

The name "bushel" has also been used to translate non-US units of a similar size and sometimes shared origin, like the German "Scheffel".

History

The bushel was originally a measure of capacity for grain. During the Middle Ages, the bushel of wheat was supposed to weigh 64 tower pounds, but when the tower system was abolished in the 16th century, it was described as 56 avoirdupois pounds. The bushel was rarely used in Scotland, Ireland or Wales during the Middle Ages.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Bushel". Oxford English Dictionary (Second ed.). Oxford, England. 1989. 
  2. ^ a b c d e William J. Murphy. "Tables for Weights and Measurement: Crops". University of Missouri Extension. http://extension.missouri.edu/xplor/agguides/crops/g04020.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-18. 

External links


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Dansk (Danish)
1.
n. - bushel, skæppe

2.
v. tr. - forandre, omforandre

Nederlands (Dutch)
bushel (maat voor droge waren), (mv) een hele hoop, repareren

Français (French)
1.
n. - (Mes) boisseau (= environ 36 litres), (US) grande quantité (fam)

2.
v. tr. - retoucher/raccommoder (un vêtement)

Deutsch (German)
1.
n. - Hohlmaß, etwa dem Scheffel entsprechend, Buschel

2.
v. - (Am) ausbessern, ändern (Kleidung), flicken

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - μόδι, μπούσελ (8 γαλόνια)

Italiano (Italian)
staio

idioms:

  • hide one's light under a bushel    nascondere i propri meriti

Português (Portuguese)
n. - medida (f) de capacidade correspondente a 35,239 l (EUA) e 36,348 l (Ingl.)

idioms:

  • hide one's light under a bushel    esconder seus talentos (fig.)

Русский (Russian)
бушель

idioms:

  • hide one's light under a bushel    скрывать свои таланты

Español (Spanish)
1.
n. - medida de áridos, GB=36,35 litros, US=35,23 litros

2.
v. tr. - medir en bushels

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - rymdmått för spannmål

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
1. 蒲式耳, 大量, 一蒲式耳的容器

2. 修改

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
1.
v. tr. - 修改

2.
n. - 蒲式耳, 大量, 一蒲式耳的容器

한국어 (Korean)
1.
n. - 부셸(곡식따위의 계량단위)

2.
v. tr. - 수선하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ブッシェル, ブッシェル重量, 多量
v. - 仕立て直す

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) مكيال حبوب 36( لتر)‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮4.63 ליטר - מידה לתבואות, פירות, נוזלים ועוד (בריטניה), 46 פיינט (כחצי ליטר)- מידה לסחורות יבשות (ארה"ב), שמונה גלונים, בושל‬
v. tr. - ‮תיקן או הטליא בגדים‬


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bsh. (abbreviation)
bu. (abbreviation)