gallon

gallon
(gal)
   1. a traditional unit of liquid volume, derived from the Roman galeta, which originally meant a pailful. Gallons of various sizes have been used in Europe ever since Roman times. In the United States, the liquid gallon is legally defined as exactly 231 cubic inches; this is equal to the old English wine gallon, which originated in medieval times but was not standardized until 1707, during the reign of Queen Anne. Some scholars believe the wine gallon was originally designed to hold 8 troy pounds of wine. The U. S. gallon holds 4 liquid quarts or exactly 3.785 411 784 liters; a U.S. gallon of water weighs about 8.33 pounds. American colonists were also familiar with the Elizabethan beer and ale gallon, which held 282 cubic inches (4.621 liters).
   2. a historic British unit of dry volume still used implicitly in the U.S. In the U.S., the term "gallon" is not used in dry measure, but if it were it would be equal to 1/2 peck, or 4 dry quarts, or 268.8025 cubic inches, or approximately 4.404 884 liters. This unit is the English corn or grain gallon, standardized during the reign of Elizabeth I in the sixteenth century. The earliest official definition of a dry gallon in Britain is a 1303 proclamation of Edward I, where the gallon is defined as the volume of 8 pounds of wheat; the current U.S. "gallon" contains about 7.5 pounds of wheat. Grain gallons have tended to be larger than liquid gallons throughout the history of British units, apparently because they were based on heaped rather than "struck" (leveled) containers. A container in which grain has been heaped above the top will hold as much as 25% more grain, and the traditional corn gallon is in fact 16.4% larger than the wine gallon.
   3. a British Imperial unit of volume larger than either of the American gallons. The Imperial Weights and Measures Act of 1824 established a new unit for all volumes, liquid or dry, replacing all the other gallons in previous use in Britain. The Imperial gallon, designed to contain exactly 10 pounds of distilled water under precisely defined conditions, holds exactly 4.546 09 liters or approximately 277.4194 cubic inches. The Imperial gallon equals 1.20095 U.S. liquid gallons (British wine gallons) or 1.03206 U.S. dry gallons (British corn gallons).
   4. a traditional unit of volume in Scotland equal to 4 Scots quarts. This is almost exactly 3 British Imperial gallons, 3.6 U.S. liquid gallons, or 13.63 liters.

Dictionary of units of measurement. 2015.

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  • Gallon US — Gallon Un gallon US (0,8 gal Imp; 3,8 litres) Le gallon (symbole : gal) est une unité de volume anglo saxonne, utilisée pour mesurer les liquides. Le gallon impérial (symbole gal GB ou gal Imp) vaut 160 onces liquides du… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • gallon — [ galɔ̃ ] n. m. • 1669; mot angl., anglo norm. galon ♦ Mesure anglo saxonne de capacité utilisée pour les grains et les liquides, égale à 4,54 litres en Grande Bretagne et au Canada, et à 3,78 litres aux États Unis. Le gallon canadien correspond… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • gallon — gal‧lon [ˈgælən] noun [countable] 1. a unit for measuring liquids, equal to 4.5435 litres: • A price increase of 2p on a litre of petrol is equal to a rise of more than 9p a gallon. • a 12.6 million gallon cargo of industrial oil 2. a unit for… …   Financial and business terms

  • gallon — 1. (ga lon) s. m. Mesure anglaise de capacité pour les liquides. Le gallon impérial d Angleterre est de 4 litres 54, et en douane aux États Unis de 3 litres 78 pour les liquides, et 4 litres 40 pour les matières sèches. HISTORIQUE    XIVe s.… …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

  • Gallon — Gal lon, n. [OF galon, jalon, LL. galo, galona, fr. galum a liquid measure; cf. F. jale large bowl. Cf. {Gill} a measure.] A measure of capacity, containing four quarts; used, for the most part, in liquid measure, but sometimes in dry measure.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Gallon — Gallon, Einheit des englischen Hohlmaßes, entspricht dem Raum, den 10 Pfund Avoirdupois destilliertes Wasser bei 62° F. und 30 Zoll engl. Barometerstand einnehmen. Das Gallon ist daher gleich 4,546 l. Als Trockenmaß (Getreidemaß) ist 1 Imperial… …   Lexikon der gesamten Technik

  • Gallon — bezeichnet die Raumeinheit Gallone (engl. Gallon), siehe Gallone und ist der Name von folgenden Personen Jean Gallon (1878–1959), französischer Komponist und Kompositionslehrer Noël Gallon (1891–1966), französischer Komponist und… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • gallon — [gal′ən] n. [ME galoun < NormFr galon < OFr jalon < VL * gallone < stem of LL galleta, a jug] 1. a) a unit of liquid measure, equal to 4 liquid quarts (3.7854 liquid liters): the British and Canadian imperial gallon equals 4.54596… …   English World dictionary

  • gallon — ► NOUN 1) a unit of volume for liquid measure equal to eight pints: in Britain (also imperial gallon) , equivalent to 4.55 litres; in the US, equivalent to 3.79 litres. 2) (gallons) informal large quantities. ORIGIN Old French galon, from Latin… …   English terms dictionary

  • Gallon — Gallon, engl. Hohlmaß für trockne und flüssige Dinge, = 4 Quarts zu 2 Pints. Das Imperial Standard G. stellt laut Parlamentsakte vom 17. Juni 1824 den Raum dar, den 10 Pfd. avdp. destillierten Wassers bei 30 Zoll Barometerstand und 162/3°… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Gallon — (Gallone), Einheit des engl. Hohlmaßes zu 4 Quarts oder 8 Pints oder 32 Gills. Das seit 1826 gebrauchte Imperial oder Reichs G. hat 4,5433 l. Das alte G., noch in den engl. Kolonien und den Ver. Staaten von Amerika allgemein angewandt, für Wein …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

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