A cord is a measure of four feet by four by eight.
1616. 20 cordes of olde woode.—Sir R. Boyle, ‘Diary’ (1886), i. 112. (N.E.D.)
1638–9. A man was presented for stealing Cord wood.—‘N. Riding Records,’ iv. 109. (N.E.D.)
1683. Cord-wood, under the name of “stick wood,” is regulated at the length of four feet.—Watson, ‘Historic Tales of New York,’ p. 88 (1832).
1762. [He has seized] about Twenty Eight Cords of Cord Wood as forfeited, not being four Feet in length. [Two similar notices follow.]—Boston Evening Post, April 12.
1771. He was then armed with two cordwood sticks.—Boston-Gazette, Feb. 11.
1783. I will take in pay wharf-logs, cord-wood, locust-post, &c.—Advt., Maryland Journal, March 11.
1806. A quantity of “Scaleboard and cords of Wood” to be sold by auction.—Mass. Spy, March 19.
1813. A load of wood measuring one hundred and six solid feet, or thirteen cords and a quarter. [A curious miscalculation, being sixteen times too much.]—Mass. Spy, Feb. 24.
1817. Fire-wood [in W. Pennsylvania] is two dollars per cord:—the price is merely the labour, as is, in fact, a great part of what you pay for every thing.—M. Birkbeck, ‘Journey in America,’ p. 35 (Phila.).
1845. A customer on the banks of the Mississippi, who was sitting on a pile of cord wood, as the boat passed by.—‘The Cincinnati Miscellany,’ ii. 168.
