tun

Meanings

Noun

• A large cask; an oblong vessel bulging in the middle, like a pipe or puncheon, and girt with hoops; a wine cask.
• A fermenting vat.
• An old English liquid measure, containing 252 wine gallons; equal to two pipe.
• A weight of 2,240 pounds.
• An indefinite large quantity.
• A drunkard.
• Any shell belonging to Tonna (genus) and allied genera.
• The cryptobiotic state of a tardigrade, when its metabolism is temporarily suspended.
• A part of the ancient Maya Long Count Calendar system which corresponds to 18 winal cycles or 360 days.

Verb

• To put into tuns, or casks.

Origin

• From Middle English tunne, tonne, from Old English tunne ("tun, cask, barrel"), from Proto-Germanic *tunnǭ, *tunnō, from Latin tunna, probably of Gaulish origin.
• Cognate with North Frisian tenn ("tun, barrel, cask"), Dutch ton ("tun, barrel, cask"), German Tonne ("tun, barrel, drum"), Danish tønde ("barrel"), Swedish tunna ("barrel, cask, tun"), Icelandic tunna ("barrel"). Compare also Old French tonne, French tonneau ("ton, barrel"), Medieval Latin tunna ("cask"), Middle Irish tunna ("cask"), Welsh tynell ("tun, barrel"). It is uncertain whether the Germanic or the Celtic forms are the original.