Pl. -æ. [L., ad. Gr. ἀμφορεύς, shortened from ἀμφιφορεύς, f. ἀμφί on both sides + φορεύς bearer, f. φέρ-ειν to bear, descriptive of its two handles.]
1. Cl. Antiq. A two-handled vessel, of various shape, used by the ancients for holding wine, oil, etc.
c. 1465. Bk. Quintess., 5. Putte it into a glas clepid amphora, with a long necke.
1857. Birch, Anc. Pottery (1858), I. 35. The amphoræ or two-handled vases in the collections of the Museum.
1879. J. Young, Ceram. Art, 24. Amphoræ—the Greek two-handled, oval-bodied vases with pointed base, which have been found wherever Greek commerce extended.
2. A liquid measure, containing, with the Greeks, about 9 gallons; with the Romans, containing 6 gals. 7 pts., and also called quadrantal.
1607. Topsell, Four-footed Beasts (1673), 54. A horn brought out of India to Ptolemy the second, which received three Amphoraes of water.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v., The Attic Amphora was one third part bigger than the Italic.
1820. Mair, Tyro’s Dict. (ed. 10), 5. Amphoralis, containing an amphora or rundlet.
3. Bot. Sometimes applied to the lower or permanent part of the capsule called pyxidium, which remains attached to the flower stalk in the form of an urn, as in Hyoscyamus.
1821. S. Gray, Arr. Brit. Pl., I. 184. Amphora, the lower valve [of the pyxis] attached to the peduncle.
1880. Gray, Bot. Text-Bk., 395. Amphora … the lower part of a pyxis.
