What does "bushel" mean?

Bushel: 3. A quantity that fills a bushel measure; as, a heap containing ten bushels of apples. Note: In the United States a large number of articles, bought and sold by the bushel, are measured by weighing, the number of pounds that make a bushel being determined by State law or by local custom. For some articles, as apples, potatoes, etc., heaped measure is required in measuring a bushel.

Additional senses

  1. 2.A large indefinite quantity. [Colloq.] The worthies of antiquity bought the rarest pictures with bushels of gold, without counting the weight or the number of the pieces. Dryden.
  2. 3.The iron lining in the nave of a wheel. [Eng.] In the United States it is called a box. See 4th Bush.

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