Meanings
plural poulter's measures
- communicationsA metre with alternate lines of 12 and 14 syllables.
Good ladies, ye that have your pleasure in exile Step in your foot, come take a place and mourn with me awhile. And such as by their lords do set but little price, Let them sit still, it skills them not what chance come on the dice.
1547, Earl Surrey, Complaint on the absence of her lover being at sea.
Origin
Coined by George Gascoigne in 1576, because it was said that poulters gave 12 eggs for the first dozen and 14 if you bought a second dozen.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
poulter's measure. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poulter's%20measure
“poulter's measure.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poulter's%20measure. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “poulter's measure,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poulter's%20measure.
Source: poulter's measure on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.