Also U.S. liter. [a. F. litre, first formed in 1793; suggested by litron, the name of an obsolete Fr. measure of capacity, app. f. late L. litra, a. Gr. λίτρα pound.] The unit of capacity in the metric system, represented by a cube whose edge is the tenth of a metre, and equivalent to rather more than 13/4 pints.
1810. Naval Chron., XXIV. 301. Littre, Decimeter cube.
1839. Penny Cycl., XIV. 56/1. Four litres and a half make, roughly speaking, an imperial gallon.
1866. Odling, Anim. Chem., 6. If we take … a litre of hydrogen and a litre of chlorine, we obtain exactly two litres of hydrochloric acid.
1886. W. J. Tucker, E. Europe, 336. The farmers … strike bargains over a couple of ‘liters’ of wine with the Hebrew corn, cattle, or pig dealer.
