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A bushel is "a measure of dry capacity in the English-speaking world". It is used to measure dry commodities, not liquids. It is abbreviated as bsh. or bu.

The earliest documentary evidence of the bushel is from the 1300s. The word is derived from the Old French word "boissel". This word is itself derived from "boisse", meaning a measure of grain.

It seems reasonable to assume the bushel was introduced to England through the Norman Conquest.

The dictionary definition of a bushel is "a dry measure, containing four pecks, eight gallons, or thirty-two quarts."

In both the United Kingdom and the United States, a bushel is therefore equivalent to eight local gallons. As a UK gallon is larger than a US gallon, this means that the UK bushel is also larger than the US bushel!

In my following definitions I have "rounded up" the quantities, for simplicity, as the exact figures are rather long.

1 U.S. bushel = 35.24 liters = 8 corn/dry gallons = 9.31 liquid gallons.

The US "level bushel" (or "struck bushel") contains 2,150 cubic inches (35,245 cubic cm). Two bushels make up a unit called a strike. In 1912 the US Court of Customs defined a "heaped bushel" for measuring quantities of apples as 2,748 cubic inches (45,035 cubic cm).

To define it another way, the modern US bushel measure holds 77.63 pounds of distilled water at 39.8 degrees Fahrenheit at 30 inches of atmospheric pressure.

The US level bushel is based on the "Winchester bushel", which was used in England from the 15th century until 1824. This was a measure of 2,219 cubic inches (36,375 cubic cm), or the volume of a cylinder 18 inches in internal diameter and eight inches in depth.

The "Imperial bushel" in use in England since 1824 is larger than the Winchester bushel, containing 2218 cubic inches, or 80 pounds of water at 62 degrees Fahrenheit at 30 inches of atmospheric pressure.

1 Imperial (UK) bushel = 36.37 liters = 8 Imperial gallons.

My sources:
Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org)
The Free Dictionary (http://www.thefreedictionary. com/)
Websters Dictionary (http://www.websters-online-di ctionary.org)
The Encyclopedia Britannica (http://www.britannica.com)
You rDictionary.com (http://www.yourdictionary.com )
Sizes.com (http://www.sizes.com)

Learn more about this author, Gill Jennings.
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