Forms: 46 tonne, 5 toun, 6 toonne, (tune), Sc. twn, 67 tunne, 68 tun, 7 tunn, 5 ton. See also TUN sb. [In origin the same word as TUN (OE. tunne, OF. tonne) a cask. In ME. this was commonly spelt, as in French, tonne; in 1617th c., more often tun; from c. 1688 the two spellings have been differentiated, tun being appropriated to the sense cask and the liquid measure, and ton to the senses here treated, which, it will be seen, are partly measures, and partly weights.]
† 1. A large wine-vessel, a cask; hence, a measure of capacity used for wine: now spelt TUN, q.v.
2. A unit used in measuring the carrying capacity or burden of a ship, the amount of cargo, freight, etc. Originally, the space occupied by a tun cask of wine (see explanatory quot. 1894 on ton tight s.v. TIGHT a. 14, and quot. 1539 here). Now, for the purposes of registered tonnage, the space of 100 cubic feet. For purposes of freight, usually the space of 40 cubic feet, unless that bulk would weigh more than 20 cwt., in which case freight is charged by weight. But the expression ton of cargo is also used with regard to special packages which are conventionally assumed as going so many packages to the ton. Cf. also TONNAGE.
13791603. Tonne tight, etc. [see TIGHT a. 14].
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., XIX. xxii. (Percy), 92. The shyp was great, fyve c. tonne to charge.
1530. Palsgr., 460/1. A shyppe of a hundred tonne.
[1539. in R. G. Marsden, Sel. Pl. Crt. Adm. (Selden), I. 89. Unam naviculam vocatam a shippes boat oneris trium doliorum.] Ibid. (1544), 126. Ladyn 35 butts wynes wich goith for fyeftey tons ladinge.
1555. Eden, Dec. New World, 349 (Second Voyage to Guinea) (Arb.), 379. A shyppe of the burden of seuen score toonne.
1582. N. Lichefield, trans. Castanhedas Conq. E. Ind., I. ii. 4 b. The King then bought a Caruell of fiftie tunne.
1587. Harrison, England, II. xvii. (1877), I. 285. A ship of ours of six hundred tun.
1657. R. Ligon, Barbadoes (1673), 2. We had with us a small ship of about 180 tunns, called the Nonesuch.
a. 1687. Petty, Pol. Arith., iii. (1690), 54. The King of Englands Navy consists of about seventy thousand Tuns of Shipping. Ibid., 56. In France there are not above one hundred and fifty thousand Tun of Trading Vessels, and consequently not above fifteen thousand Seamen, reckoning a Man to every ten Tun.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Z j. A ton in measure is generally estimated at 2000 lb. in weight.
1821. J. Q. Adams, in C. Davies, Metr. Syst. (1871), III. 98. The casks of Bordeaux wine were then [1423] and still are made for stowage in such manner that four hogsheads occupy one ton of shipping. The ton was of thirty-two cubic feet by measure, and of 2,016 English pounds, of fifteen ounces to the pound, in weight; equal to 2,560 of the easterling tower pound.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, s.v., The ton of freight or merchandise varies with the article and the locality from whence shipped.
1867. Smyth, Sailors Word-bk., Ton, or Tun. In the cubical contents of a ship it is the weight of water equal to 2000 lbs., by the general standard for liquids. Ibid., 42 cubic feet of articles equal one ton in shipment.
3. A measure of capacity: a. for timber; usually equivalent to 40 cubic feet (or for hewn timber, 50).
1521. MS. Acc. St. Johns Hosp., Canterb. For hewyng of a tune and xvj fote of tymber.
1707. Mortimer, Husb. (1721), II. 88. To sell your Timber by the Ton, Load or Foot, forty Foot being reckoned a Ton, and fifty a Load, and in some places just the contrary.
1774. Pennant, Tour Scotl. in 1709 (ed. 3), 107. The tenant is obliged to work 150 tuns of timber annually, paying eighteen shillings and six-pence per tun.
1813. T. Davis, Agric. Wilts., Gloss., Ton of Rough Timber, 40 feet, the load 50 feet, is only used when timber is hewn for the navy.
b. for various solid commodities, as stone, gravel, lime, plaster, wheat, cheese, etc.
14289. Rec. St. Mary at Hill, 70. A tonne tyght of northerin ston.
a. 1500. How Plowman lerned Pater-Noster, 110, in Hazl., E. P. P., I. 213. Of whete amonge them they gate an hole tunne.
1504. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., II. 277. For xx twn of plaistir brocht hame be Dorange, Franchman.
1538. in R. C. Marsden, Sel. Pl. Crt. Adm. (Selden), I. 82. For the freight of every ton tight of the saide wheate, accompting fyve quarters to every ton.
1667. Primatt, City & C. Build., 68. Half a Tun of Plaister of Paris will lay fifteen yards of Lath-work.
a. 1674. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., VII. § 335. Threescore and fifteen Barrels of Butter, and fourteen Tun of Cheese.
1821. J. Q. Adams, in C. Davies, Metr. Syst. (1871), III. 127. Before the statute of 1496, the London quarter of a ton was the one measure, to which the bushel for corn, the gallon, deduced by measure, for ale, and the gallon, deduced by weight, for wine, were all referred.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, s.v., A ton of flour, in commerce, is 8 sacks or 10 barrels; a ton of potatoes, 10 bushels.
4. A measure of weight, now generally 20 cwt.; in Great Britain legally 2240 lbs.; in the United States and some of the colonies, for most purposes 2000 lbs. Tons of different amounts were formerly in use and are still so locally for some commodities. (Where two weights are so known and used, the heavier is distinguished as the long or gross ton and the lighter as the short ton.) Metric ton (Fr. tonne) = 1000 kilograms (2204.6 lbs. avoirdupois).
1485. Cely Papers (Camden), 183. Item the sam day payd for vj toun of balast, ij s.
1539. in R. G. Marsden, Sel. Pl. Crt. Adm. (Selden), I. 89. lxxj kintalls of yron in ends 44 . And it goes for iij tone and xj kintalls.
1545. Rates of Custome-ho., b v. Iron called Lukes Iron the tonne conteynynge .xx. C. pounde iii. li. vi.s. viii.d.
1588. Greene, Pandosto (1607), 6. A pound of goold is worth a tunne of leade.
1670. Eachard, Cont. Clergy, 115. Unless we had some vent for our learned ones beyond the sea, and could transport so many tunn of divines yearly, as we do other commodities, with which the nation is over-stocked.
1725. Bradleys Fam. Dict., II. Tun, a Measure in Averdupois, consisting of twenty hundred Weight, each Hundred being a Hundred and twelve Pounds.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 154. Every thing stood fast with eight ton weight upon the tackle-blocks.
1829. Glovers Hist. Derby, I. 100. It [pure white gypsum] sells at 10s. per long ton. [Note.120 lb. 10 the Cwt.) Ibid., 265. It was agreed that weighing-houses should be erected upon the several canals, and that the ton should be fixed at 2,400 lbs.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, s.v., In Great Britain, the legal ton by weight is usually 20 cwt., or 2240 lbs., but in long weight it is 2400 lbs. In Cornwall, the miners ton is 21 cwt., or 2352 lbs.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., s.v., For many things, such as coal and iron, the ton in use [in U.S.] is the long ton of 20 hundred-weight at 112 pounds avoirdupois . In gold and silver mining, and throughout the Western States, the ton is the short ton of 2000 pounds.
1894. Times, 10 Sept., 6/1. The total quantity which exploded was about 3,700 lb., or not far short of two tons, 2,000 lb. being reckoned as a ton in measuring explosives.
b. (colloq.) A very large amount: cf. LOAD sb. 6. Mostly in pl.
1895. Daily News, 25 April, 6/3, Is there any culture at Chicago? asked a young lady of Boston of a damsel of the former city. You bet your sweet life! Tons of it, was the reply.
1911. Barrie, Peter & Wendy, iv. I say! Do you kill many [pirates]? Tons.
† 5. Ton mascull (tonne maskyll), app. a tun cask of 252 gallons: = TUN sb. 2. Obs.
[Mascull may represent a Latin or Romanic masc(u)la = It. maschia male, large, big, huge, as a description of the largest tunna or tonna.]
1432. Rolls of Parlt., IV. 405/2. Wynes not havyng of lyes overe iiij or v ynches in a tonne maskyll.
1531. in R. G. Marsden, Sel. Pl. Crt. Adm. (Selden), I. 36. Ladd the sayd shypp with wynes to the fful number of lvij tonnes accounttyng always a ton mascull for a ton, ij pipes for a ton, iiij hoggeshedds for a ton, and vj tercys for a ton, and twenty hundred Englyshe weyght for a ton. Ibid. (1541), 113. So many thowsand orenges as makyth by account and custom of Galizia, all with the forsaid xlvj hogsheds whales grece and oyle, xlvj ton mascull.
6. attrib. and Comb., as ton-burden, -load; esp. with measures of distance, forming units measuring the work done in the conveyance of heavy bodies, esp. in reference to its cost; as ton-fathom, the equivalent of the work done in raising a ton through the depth of a fathom, as in the shaft of a mine; ton-mile, the same in carrying a ton the distance of a mile, as by a railway-train or motor-car; so ton-mileage, amount of or reckoning in ton-miles, or charge per ton-mile.
1805. Act 45 Geo. III., c. 10 § 3. For every *ton burthen of every such ship or vessel, which shall have so arrived without a clean bill of health, fifteen shillings.
1874. J. H. Collins, Metal Mining (1875), 77. About 1.50th of a penny per *ton-fathom or less.
a. 1400. MS. Cott. Vesp. B. xxii. lf. 97, in Blk. Bk. Adm. (Rolls), I. 400. Accustumez de doner pur chascun *tonnelode, que le vesseau purra porter douze deniers.
1894. Outing (U.S.), 393/1. Were the *ton mileage of each contrasted, the waterways would make much the greater showing.
1900. Engineering Mag., XIX. 734. Two horses harnessed to one waggon may achieve 35 nett *ton miles daily in regular work.
1902. Monthly Rev., Aug., 35. Obtaining the average per ton-mile from other canals.
1906. Westm. Gaz., 28 Aug., 4/2. The 10-h.p. [motor car] ran at the rate of 41.7 ton miles per gallon.
b. Ton tight: see TIGHT a. 14.