pottle

plural pottles

1. archaicA former unit of volume, equivalent to half a gallon, used for liquids and corn; a pot or drinking vessel of around this size.

   c. 1605, Thomas Dekker, The Honest Whore Part 2, London: Nathaniel Butter, 1630, a pottle of Greeke wine

   2 more examples

   Why, he drinks you, with facility, your Dane dead drunk; he sweats not to overthrow your Almain; he gives your Hollander a vomit, ere the next pottle can be filled.

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]

   And yonder sate Desborough with a dry pottle of sack before him, which he had just emptied, and which, though the element in which he trusted, had not restored him sense enough to speak, or courage enough to look over his shoulder.

   1826, [Walter Scott], chapter X, in Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC, page 254

2. New ZealandA small food container, usually made of plastic or cardboard, typically used for containing hot chips, yoghurt or other foodstuffs.

   Outside, I ripped open the bag to reveal the chips were sitting inside a paper pottle. A pottle!

   2019, Tara Ward, “The Spinoff Reviews New Zealand #94: Ōkato’s award-winning hot chips”, in The Spinoff

   2 more examples

   Did you know that the six and four-pack pottle yogurts – the kind we buy for lunches – can’t be recycled.

   2023, Sarah Heeringa, “There's something to know about this yogurt – and it's not what you think”, in Stuff

   In recent weeks, he’s been taken aback by the price of the fresh fruit and vegetables they use for their pottles of raw fish.

   2022, Charlotte Muru-Lanning, “What rising supply costs mean for local fish and chip shops”, in The Spinoff

3. archaicA small pot or other receptacle, e.g. for strawberries.

   2005, Dan Keding and Amy Douglas (eds.), English Folktales, World Folklore Series, Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, →ISBN, page 21, "I was wondering whether you’ve got such a thing as a pottle of brains to spare?"

   2 more examples

   Strawberry pottles are often half cabbage leaves, a few tempting strawberries being displayed on the top of the pottle.

   1851, Henry Mayhew, “Of the tricks of costermongers”, in London Labour and the London Poor, volume I

   He had a paper-bag under each arm and a pottle of strawberries in one hand, and was out of breath.

   1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter II, in Great Expectations […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 26

   Synonyms: punnet

present singular third person pottles · participle present pottling · participle past pottled · past pottled

1. transitiveTo place in a pottle.

plural Pottles

1. A surname.