pottle

From Middle English potell, potel, from Old French potel, diminutive of pot; see more at pot.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɒtəl/

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• Rhymes: -ɒtəl

pottle (plural pottles)

1. (archaic) A former unit of volume, equivalent to half a gallon, used for liquids and corn; a pot or drinking vessel of around this size.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

     Why, he drinks you, with facility, your Dane dead drunk; he sweats not to overthrow your Almain; he gives your Hollander a vomit, ere the next pottle can be filled.

   • c. 1605, Thomas Dekker, The Honest Whore Part 2, London: Nathaniel Butter, 1630,

     a pottle of Greeke wine

   • 1826, [Walter Scott], chapter X, in Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC, page 254:

     And yonder sate Desborough with a dry pottle of sack before him, which he had just emptied, and which, though the element in which he trusted, had not restored him sense enough to speak, or courage enough to look over his shoulder.

2. (New Zealand) A small food container, usually made of plastic or cardboard, typically used for containing hot chips, yoghurt or other foodstuffs.
   • 2019, Tara Ward, “The Spinoff Reviews New Zealand #94: Ōkato’s award-winning hot chips”, in The Spinoff‎:

     Outside, I ripped open the bag to reveal the chips were sitting inside a paper pottle. A pottle!

   • 2023, Sarah Heeringa, “There's something to know about this yogurt – and it's not what you think”, in Stuff‎:

     Did you know that the six and four-pack pottle yogurts – the kind we buy for lunches – can’t be recycled.

   • 2022, Charlotte Muru-Lanning, “What rising supply costs mean for local fish and chip shops”, in The Spinoff‎:

     In recent weeks, he’s been taken aback by the price of the fresh fruit and vegetables they use for their pottles of raw fish.

3. (archaic) A small pot or other receptacle, e.g. for strawberries.
   • 1851, Henry Mayhew, “Of the tricks of costermongers”, in London Labour and the London Poor‎, volume I:

     Strawberry pottles are often half cabbage leaves, a few tempting strawberries being displayed on the top of the pottle.

   • 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter II, in Great Expectations […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 26:

     He had a paper-bag under each arm and a pottle of strawberries in one hand, and was out of breath.

   • 2005, Dan Keding and Amy Douglas (eds.), English Folktales, World Folklore Series, Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, →ISBN, page 21,

     "I was wondering whether you’ve got such a thing as a pottle of brains to spare?"

• (a receptacle for strawberries): punnet (British, Canada, Australia)