Meanings
plural khoes
- alternativeAlternative form of chous (“ancient Greek unit”).
Drinking khoes of wine was part of the celebration at the Anthesteria.
2001, John T. Kirby, World Eras, volumes 6 (Classical Greek Civilization, 800-323 B.C.E.), Detroit, Mich.: Gale Group, →ISBN, page 360, column 23 more examples
The two oldest Greek measures definitely marked as standards date from 550 b.c. and were found in excavations at the Acropolis at Athens. One is a cylindrical corn measure, a khous, which was equal to half the Babylonian log. The other is a water clock marked 2 khous that has a capacity of 393 cubic inches.
1970, Frank Donovan, Prepare Now for a Metric Future, New York, N.Y.: Weybright and Talley, →LCCN, page 6The amounts of the contributions which each member of a mess had to make each month are said by Plutarch to have been 1 medimnos of barley-meal, 8 khoes of wine, 5 mnai of cheese, 2½ mnai of figs, and ‘a very small amount of money’ for buying additional items of food (Lyk. 12.3).
1986, Douglas M[aurice] MacDowell, Spartan Law (Scottish Classical Studies; 1), Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, →ISBN, page 112When I was in Athens, I could get a khous of Khian for two drakhmai, and one of those jars won’t hold above seven khoes.
2001, H[arry] N[orman] Turteltaub, Over the Wine-Dark Sea, New York, N.Y.: Forge, Tom Doherty Associates, →ISBN, page 112
Cite this entry
khous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/khous
“khous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/khous. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “khous,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/khous.
Source: khous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.