kemple

plural kemples

1. ScotlandThe size of a standard load of straw, approximately 450 pounds.

   Hence the money acquired from the sale of the three kemples, at the average of the above prices, will purchase five cubic yards of this very efficient manure.

   1829, George Robertson, Rural Recollections; or, the progress of improvement in agriculture and rural affairs, page 209

   2 more examples

   His Honour, ye see, being under hiding in thae sair times--the mair's the pity--he lies a' day, and whiles a' night, in the cove in the dern hag; but though it's a bieldy eneugh bit, and the auld gudeman o' Corse-Cleugh has panged it wi' a kemple o' strae amaist, yet when the country's quiet, and the night very cauld, his Honour whiles creeps doun here to get a warm at the ingle and a sleep amang the blankets, and gangs awa in the morning.

   1814, Sir Walter Scott, Waverley, Or 'Tis Sixty Years Hence, Complete

   From a crop of wheat, of 40 bushels to the acre, or of 2600 lb., at 65 lb. per bushel, the straw will weigh 9 kemples of 440 lb. each, or 3960 lb., affording just 1/2 more weight of straw than of grain.

   1844, Henry Stephens, The Book of the Farm, Detailing the Labours of the Farmer, Farm-Steward, Ploughman, Shepherd, Hedger, Cattle-man, Field-worker, and Dairy-Maid

plural Kemples

1. A surname from German.