[Proper name.]
I. The name of a city in Hampshire, the capital of Wessex and later of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom: used attrib. in specific designations.
1. (a) Winchester measure: dry and liquid measures the standards of which were orig. deposited at Winchester. Also fig. So (b) Winchester bushel, gallon, quart, for which (c) Winchester is used for short (in druggists’ use = Winchester quart).
(a) c. 1550. Skelton’s Ghost, 23, in S.’s Wks. (1843), II. 154. Full Winchester gage We had in that age.
1670. Act 22 Chas. II., c. 8 § 1. The Standard marked in his Majestyes Exchequer commonly called the Winchester Measure containing Eight Gallons to the Bushell.
1680. Alsop, Misch. Impos., xiii. 94. The Advice to those in Communion with the Church, was short and sweet, but the Dissenters shall now have it by Winchester measure.
1682. Warburton, Hist. Guernsey (1822), 114. The Guernsey bushel, great measure, contains about 6 gallons, Winchester measure.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 337/2. An Halfe Peck, of old it contained 5 Quarts, but by Winchester Measure to which by the Statute of the Land all others now conforme, is but 4 Quarts and a Pint.
1846. M’Culloch, Acc. Brit. Empire (1854), I. 215. An acre has been known to yield 300 bushels (Winchester measure) of early potatoes for the first crop.
1860. All Year Round, No. 70. 479/2. He could … life a runlet (two gallons, Winchester measure) full of ale to his mouth.
(b) [1603. G. Owen, Pembrokeshire, vii. (1891), 55. Theire bushell beinge more then doble winchester.]
1702. Act 1 Anne, Stat. 2. c. 3 § 6. A Bushel according to the Standards remaining in the Custody of the Chamberlains of Her Majesties Exchequer commonly called … by the Name of the Winchester Busbel.
1737. Act 10 Geo. II., c. 30 § 2. All Oysters which shall … be imported from France…, shall … be rated at seven Pence per Bushel strike Measure, according to the Winchester Corn Bushel.
1768. Ann. Reg., Chron., 92. The lords of the manor of Tetbury … were convicted … for not using in the public market a brass Winchester bushel.
c. 1790. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), V. 102/2. 268·8 cubic inches to the Winchester gallon.
1835. Act 5 & 6 Will. IV., c. 63 § 6. Be it enacted, That from and after the passing of this Act the Measure called the Winchester Bushel, and the Lineal Measure called the Scotch Ell,… shall be abolished.
1880. J. Dunbar, Pract. Papermaker, 65. Fill a ‘Winchester quart’ bottle with this test acid.
(c) 1702. T. Brown, Lett. fr. Dead, II. (1707), 68. Seal’d Winchesters of Three-penny Guzzle.
1722. E. Ward, Wand. Spy, II. 67.
| [They] Call’d for full Winchester’s of Stout, | |
| And at one Guzzle toap’d ’em out. |
1758. Borlase, Nat. Hist. Cornw., 87. Bay-salt … is sold to the husbandman from four-pence to six-pence a winchester. Ibid., 88. Each bushel three winchesters, or twenty-four gallons.
1880. J. Dunbar, Pract. Papermaker, 66. The ‘Winchester’ is duly labelled.
1905. Wastell & Bayley, Hand Camera, 145, note. A ‘Winchester,’ or ‘Winchester Quart,’ is a bottle holding eighty ounces, or two ordinary quarts.
† 2. Winchester goose: see GOOSE sb. 3.
II. 3. The name of Oliver F. Winchester (1810–80), an American manufacturer, used as the designation of a breech-loading rifle having a tubular magazine under the barrel and a horizontal bolt operated by a lever on the underside of the stock.
1871. Standard, 1 Feb. The arms … being the Remington and the Chassepot, with some few Winchesters.
1891. C. Roberts, Adrift Amer., 163. He rushed over to his house and brought out a 17-shot Winchester.
1897. Hinde, Congo Arabs, xi. 185. Our men brought in … about fifteen Winchester expresses, and the same number of ordinary Winchesters.
Hence † Winchestrian a. (see sense 2).
a. 1637. B. Jonson, Underwoods, Execr. Vulcan, 142.
| And this a Sparkle of that fire let loose | |
| That was lock’d up in the Winchestrian Goose. |
