DCHP-1 Online

quintal † [< MF < Med. L, ult. < Arabic] Esp. Nfld

• 1 n. a quantity of fish, especially cod, weighing 112 pounds.

  • 1712  (1907)  Planters being very backward in paying he got only one hundred quintals of fish this season.
  • 1715  (1883)  The cod fishery was in a thriving condition, 386,274 quintals of cod having been made in that year, of which two-thirds had been caught and cured by the resident inhabitants.
  • 1815  Just arrived, 100 Quintals dry Cod Fish.
  • 1907  This effective trap is hauled up twice a day, and generally it will contain anything from 1 to 150 quintals of fish.
  • 1958  There are places . . . where thousands of quintals of fish spoil because there is no salt.
  • 1964  . . . a prior pre-quintal charge is reserved from the entire voyage's value for this labour called "fish-making". . . .

• 2 n. a container for packing and shipping dried and salted cod, holding 112 pounds.

  • 1824  Cleared out from the customs house here . . . 27.534 quintals of Cod Fish, 93 casks of salmon, 344 tons of Oil.
  • 1953  The successful progressive fisherman needs nets, bobbers, trawls, quintals, salt, traps, a motorboat.