Obs. Also 4 tonele, 4–7 tonel, 5 tonell. [Earlier form of TUNNEL, a. OF. tonel, tonnel, mod.F. tonneau, deriv. of tonne cask, med.L. tonna, tunna. The corresponding med.L. form was tonnellus masc., but the more usual and normal form was tonnella fem., dim. of tonna, tunna. See further under TUNNEL.]
1. A cask or barrel for wine or other commodities.
[c. 991–c. 1002. Laws Æthelred, IV. ii. § 10. Duos caballinos tonellos aceto plenos.
1341–2. Ely Sacr. Rolls (1907), II. 117. In xij hopes pro tonelis…. In iij staues pro uno tonele.
1390–1. Earl Derby’s Exp. (Camden), 24. Johanni Clerk pro ij tonnellis, pris de tonnello iijs. … Willelmo Franch pro j tonella j pipa de Rynen vjs.]
1483. Act 1 Rich. III., c. 13 § 1. Every Tonell to hold xijxx xij galons.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 111. b/1. A good woman whyche had but a lytyl wyn in her tonnel or vessel.
1582. N. Lichefield, trans. Castanheda’s Conq. E. Ind., I. xxix. 72. A fish which ye sea did cast a land, yt was greater then any Tonel.
1601. Tate, Househ. Ord. Edw. II. (1876), 61. If any tonel be found to be corrupt … let the botome of the tonel be knocked out, and the wine spilt.
1880. O. Crawfurd, Portugal Old & New, 256. [The wine] is drawn into tonels [= Pg. toneles], huge casks often with a capacity of over thirty pipes.
1884. Dowell, Hist. Taxation, I. II. ii. 28. The Bishop of Winchester owes a tonell of good wine for not reminding the king (John) about a girdle for the countess of Albemarle.
b. Comb. Tonnel-hoop, a hoop of a cask.
1341–2. Ely Sacr. Rolls (1907), II. 117. In iiij staues pro uno tonele et iij tonelhopes. Item pro j tonelhope et ij paylhopes.
† 2. Early spelling, in various senses, of TUNNEL.
