chaldron

plural chaldrons

1. archaicAn old English dry measure, containing four quarters. At London, 36 bushels heaped up, or its equivalent weight, and more than twice as much at Newcastle. Now used exclusively for coal and coke.

   ????, De Colange. In the United States the chaldron is ordinarily 2,940 lbs, but at New York it is 2,500 lbs.

   3 more examples

   The celdra or chaldron is employed in some places, especially at Finchale or Wearmouth. It appears to contain four quarters or thereabouts, and is perhaps the original measure of which the quarter is a fraction.

   1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, page 208

   The visitors recorded that it [Locomotion] could haul 20 wagons, each holding one Newcastle chaldron of coal (53 cwt.).

   1950 November, “Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns Limited”, in Railway Magazine, page 724

   Another site of early railway enterprise to be upgraded to 2* before benefiting from restoration (which would remove it from the 2024 at-risk register) is the S&DR [Stockton & Darlington Railway] coal drops, located in Shildon's Locomotive museum. After it was upgraded in 2021 […], 2022 research by Historic England found that the drops, constructed in 1847, were the world's first attempt at mechanising locomotive refuelling. The drops worked by chaldron wagons being taken up the incline, and their loads dropped down chutes into tenders of steam locomotives waiting below.

   2025 February 5, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Railway heritage saved in 2024”, in RAIL, number 1028, page 54

plural chaldrons

1. alternativeAlternative form of chawdron.

   Hovv fare I? troth, for ſixpence a meale, vvench, as vvel as heart can vviſh, vvith Calves Chaldrons, and Chitterlings, beſides I haue a Punck after ſupper, as good as a roſted Apple.

   1604 (date written), Tho[mas] Dekker, [Thomas Middleton], The Honest Whore. […] (4th quarto), London: […] Nicholas Okes for Robert Basse, […], published 1616, →OCLC, Act I, signature B, verso

   2 more examples

   To Lift a Swan. […] [P]lace the tvvo halves, ſlit ſide dovvnvvard, ſtrevv ſome Salt and Cinnamon about it, and ſerve up Chaldron Sauce, in Saucers, Garniſhing vvith VVater-Lillies, VVater-Creſſes, or any ſuitable flovvers, or greens, grovving in or by the vvater.

   1701, “a lady” [pseudonym], “The Termes and Art of Carving of Fowl, Fish, Flesh, &c. With Proper Sauces, and Garnishings, More Particularly than yet Mentioned. Also the Like in Pastry, Sweetmeats, and Other Rarities.”, in The Whole Duty of a Woman: Or A Guide to the Female Sex. From the Age of Sixteen to Sixty, &c. […], 3rd edition, London: […] J. Guillim, […], →OCLC, page 139

   Chitterling. […] The small entrails of a hog, from their wrinkled appearance. […] [German] kalbs gekröse, a calf's pluck or chaldron; gänse gekröse, a goose's giblets, called chitters in the N[orth] of E[ngland].

   1859, Hensleigh Wedgwood, “Chitterling”, in A Dictionary of English Etymology, volume I (A–D), London: Trübner & Co., […], →OCLC, page 335