FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Quiz about More Miscellaneous Measures
Quiz about More Miscellaneous Measures

More Miscellaneous Measures Trivia Quiz


I found some more quaint measures at the back of my old 1933 Dictionary, and I think some of them - but not all - may still be in use. Can you make these numbers fit?

A matching quiz by davejacobs. Estimated time: 5 mins.
  1. Home
  2. »
  3. Quizzes
  4. »
  5. Science Trivia
  6. »
  7. Miscellaneous Science
  8. »
  9. Time and Distance Measurements

Author
davejacobs
Time
5 mins
Type
Match Quiz
Quiz #
394,087
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
6 / 10
Plays
148
Awards
Top 20% Quiz
(a) Drag-and-drop from the right to the left, or (b) click on a right side answer box and then on a left side box to move it.
QuestionsChoices
1. Twenty bags, that's a ton of sago, so how many pounds (lb) in a "Bag of Sago"?   
  144
2. Probably worth a fortune in the days of the spice trade, the volume of a "Chest of Cloves" is how many gallons?  
  200
3. Stone me, how many pounds (lb) to a "Peck of Flour"?  
  9
4. A "Bushel of Barley" contains over four dozen gallons, but exactly how many?  
  56
5. Just a fraction of a trawler's catch, a "Cran of Herrings" is how many gallons?  
  37½
6. I've asked many Americans how big a "Cord of Wood" is, and never got a definite answer. My book says it's how many cubic feet?  
  36
7. Weighing hundreds of lb, it would be a bit of a struggle for a smuggler to roll up the beach! A "Hogshead of Brandy" contains how many gallons?  
  112
8. A "Firkin" is a nonet of gallons, so how many does it hold?  
  60
9. A "Load of Hay" is made of how many "Trusses"? They might have been squared to fit on the cart.  
  14
10. Skinning enough animals to make a "Last of Hides" seems gross, but how many is that?  
  128





Select each answer

1. Twenty bags, that's a ton of sago, so how many pounds (lb) in a "Bag of Sago"?
2. Probably worth a fortune in the days of the spice trade, the volume of a "Chest of Cloves" is how many gallons?
3. Stone me, how many pounds (lb) to a "Peck of Flour"?
4. A "Bushel of Barley" contains over four dozen gallons, but exactly how many?
5. Just a fraction of a trawler's catch, a "Cran of Herrings" is how many gallons?
6. I've asked many Americans how big a "Cord of Wood" is, and never got a definite answer. My book says it's how many cubic feet?
7. Weighing hundreds of lb, it would be a bit of a struggle for a smuggler to roll up the beach! A "Hogshead of Brandy" contains how many gallons?
8. A "Firkin" is a nonet of gallons, so how many does it hold?
9. A "Load of Hay" is made of how many "Trusses"? They might have been squared to fit on the cart.
10. Skinning enough animals to make a "Last of Hides" seems gross, but how many is that?

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Twenty bags, that's a ton of sago, so how many pounds (lb) in a "Bag of Sago"?

Answer: 112

Sago is not to everyone's taste, but I like it. Often confused with tapioca, it is a starchy food made from the pith of certain palm trees and is apparently a staple in the diet of people in Malaysia and parts of Indonesia where it grows best. Today you can order bags of sago from Thailand, but sizes have been metricated.

A 50 kg bag would be almost the same weight as the imperial weight "Bag" listed in my book. The clue is that 112 lb is called a hundredweight, and there are twenty hundredweight in a ton.
2. Probably worth a fortune in the days of the spice trade, the volume of a "Chest of Cloves" is how many gallons?

Answer: 200

The clove tree (Syzygium aromaticum) originally grew in the Molluccas of Indonesia, and the market was dominated by the Portuguese, Dutch and finally French, who were able to grow it in Mauritius and Zanzibar. The clove that you buy now is the dried bud from the clove tree. When I was young, my mother had me bite on a clove to cure or at least alleviate my toothache. Cigarettes made by blending cloves with tobacco are very popular in Indonesia, and are called kretek cigarettes from the crackling noise they make when rolled between the fingers.

A conventional tea chest, for comparison, is 20 by 20 by 20 inches, which is about 29 gallons. Oddly, my book says a Chest of Tea contains 84 gallons.
3. Stone me, how many pounds (lb) to a "Peck of Flour"?

Answer: 14

The use of peck as a measure has pretty well gone out of fashion these days, except perhaps in selling apples. The word stone is intended as a clue as, at least in Britain, 14 pounds make a stone - usually used in describing personal weights. For instance I currently weigh 13 stone 7 pounds.

The term "stone ground flour" is a coincidence in this context; it refers to flour that has been ground in the traditional way between two stones.
4. A "Bushel of Barley" contains over four dozen gallons, but exactly how many?

Answer: 56

Barley is a grain of the grass family, the ear being distinguished from other grains by its long "whiskers". Barley grains are sold wholesale by volume, most often for use in the brewing trade, barley being the basis of most beers. The drink called barley wine is misnamed, as it is a very strong ale.

The malt in malt whisky is fermented barley. You can also make non-alcoholic barley water whose only use is said to be as a health drink.
5. Just a fraction of a trawler's catch, a "Cran of Herrings" is how many gallons?

Answer: 37½

The cran was formally defined in 1852 and refers to herring after they have been landed but before they have been processed. Normally after unloading the herrings are put into boxes which are also called crans. The clue here is the word fraction, as the answer is the only one that contains a fraction.

The word is said to come from the Gaelic word crann meaning a lot, possibly the share of catch due to each crew member.
6. I've asked many Americans how big a "Cord of Wood" is, and never got a definite answer. My book says it's how many cubic feet?

Answer: 128

Used extensively in North America, the term refers to wood neatly stacked for winter fuel. It might be 4 ft deep by 8 ft long by 4 ft high, or any other combination that comes to a volume of 128 cu Ft. Which reminds me of an exhibit I saw in Tate Modern Museum (of modern art) a few years ago that consisted solely of 120 house bricks arranged neatly. Created by the US artist Carl Andre, the arrangement when I saw it was 6 by 10 by 2.

It created a lot of controversy. Perhaps blocks of wood would have been more acceptable.

The word cord is said to derive from when wood was carried in a bundle tied with a cord, but you'd have to be pretty strong to carry a bundle of 128 cu ft.
7. Weighing hundreds of lb, it would be a bit of a struggle for a smuggler to roll up the beach! A "Hogshead of Brandy" contains how many gallons?

Answer: 60

My estimate: if brandy weighs much the same as water and "a pint of pure water weighs a pound and a quarter" then a gallon weighs around 10 pounds. So a hogshead of 60 gallons must weigh around 600 pounds. Impossible to carry, but possible to roll in a big barrel.

The amount in a hogshead is specific to the type of liquid held. For instance, a hogshead of beer contains 64 gallons. The name "hogshead" is of uncertain origin, possibly an corruption of a Nordic word meaning ox, but that doesn't get us any further does it?
8. A "Firkin" is a nonet of gallons, so how many does it hold?

Answer: 9

A firkin is a kind of small barrel or keg holding 9 imperial gallons or 72 pints.

A "nonet" of course is a group of nine things usually used in referring to musicians or a musical composition.
9. A "Load of Hay" is made of how many "Trusses"? They might have been squared to fit on the cart.

Answer: 36

Hay, used for feeding livestock, is usually sold in rectangular or cylindrical bales, the modern equivalent of trusses. In autumn one sees harvested fields dotted with such "swiss rolls" of hay. An old horse-drawn cart carrying 36 trusses might be full, but modern trucks are seen carrying hundreds of bales.

Whether the trusses were squared or not, 36 is a square number.
10. Skinning enough animals to make a "Last of Hides" seems gross, but how many is that?

Answer: 144

The word "hide" is used in referring to animal skins, before they are turned to leather by tanning. It is also a unit of land area, but that is not what I meant here. My dictionary (yes, the 1933 one) defines last in the sense of a measurement as a weight of about 4000 lb, but varying according to the stuff being measured. Pepys' diary refers to a "last of Stockholm tar", but this obviously is a weight or volume rather than a simple number. I can find no other reference to a "Last of hides", so the clue of a gross would have been vital to you I guess.
Source: Author davejacobs

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor rossian before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
Related Quizzes
1. 6 Inch Difficult
2. A Scale Model Easier
3. Measure Up: The Mass Edition Average
4. How Fast, How Strong, How High Easier
5. A Timely Quiz Very Difficult
6. Measure Up: The Length Edition Average
7. American Measurement System Average
8. Measure for Measure Easier
9. The Size of Wales Tough
10. Units in Electronics Easier
11. The Space Between Average
12. By All Measures Very Easy

10/31/2024, Copyright 2024 FunTrivia, Inc. - Report an Error / Contact Us