Tub was a unit of capacity or of weight used in Britain and elsewhere.
British unit for butter and cheese
British laws for the sale of goods defined a tub of butter as a receptacle of a size which could contain 84 pounds of butter.
Definition
1 tub of butter or cheese = 84 pounds
Conversion
1 tub = 1.5 Firkin (1 Firkin = 56 lbs)
Metric equivalent
1 tub = 38 kg
Other commodities
The Oxford English Dictionary has quotations illustrating other values of a "tub" as a unit:
- Tea (1706): "about 60 pounds"
- "Camphire" (1706): "from 56 to 86 pounds"
- Vermilion (1706): "3 to 4 hundred weight" (i.e. 336-448 pounds)
- Camphor (1858): "130 Dutch lbs"
In Newfoundland, Canada, a tub of coal was defined as 100 pounds, while a tub of herrings was 16 Imperial gallons and a tub of salt was 18 Imperial gallons.
References
- ^ Robinson, William (1825). The Magistrate's Pocket-book, Or, An Epitome of the Duties and Practice of a Justice of the Peace. C. Hunter. p. 50. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
- ^ Crabb, George (1841). A Digest and Index with Chronological Tables of All the Statutes: From Magna Charta to the End of this Last. A. Maxwell & son. p. 231. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
- "Tub, n1, 1, d". Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
- Rowlett, Russ. "How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement". Retrieved 9 April 2015.