anker

plural ankers · alternative ankor · alternative anchor

1. obsoleteA measure of wine or spirit equal to 10 gallons; a barrel of this capacity.

   [I]t is quite a painful reflection how many whole crews we have made to walk the plank for no more than a stock of biscuit or an anker or two of spirit.

   1889, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Master’s Wanderings”, in The Master of Ballantrae. […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, […], →OCLC, page 56

   2 more examples

   And if your honour ſhould want a ſmall parcel of fine tea, or a few anchors of right Nantz, I'll be bound you ſhall be furniſhed to your heart's content.

   1751, [Tobias] Smollett, “He is Made Acquainted with the Characters of Commodore Trunnion and His Adherents; Meets with Them by Accident and Contracts an Intimacy with that Commander”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC, page 6, column 1

   "God damn and blast all you hamfisted yokels!" he was saying. "And you, sir, down there. Take that grin off your face and be more careful, or I'll have you clapped under hatches to sail with us today. Easy, there, easy! Christ, rum at seven guineas an anker isn't meant to be dropped like pig iron!"

   1938 April, C[ecil] S[cott] Forester [pseudonym; Cecil Louis Troughton Smith], chapter V, in A Ship of the Line, Greenwich edition, London: Michael Joseph, published 1951 (February 1962 printing), →OCLC, pages 40–41