DCHP-2

pint DCHP-2 (October 2016)

• n. — Food & Drink, Maritimes, especially Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island

  a 375-millilitre bottle of hard liquor (see Image 1).

  Type: 3. Semantic Change — In most of Canada, a pint of alcohol refers to a measurement of beer equivalent to 568 millilitres. However, a semantic shift has occurred in Maritime Canada, where a pint denotes what is commonly known elsewhere in Mainland Canada as a mickey. Chart 1 shows the term's prevalence in a common context ("rum"), with Nova Scotia and PEI yielding high results and, surprisingly, New Brunswick not scoring at all. As the 2013 quotation shows, the term is also in use in that province. There are semantic distinctions as well, however, as, pint in the Maritimes may also refer to the measurement of beer of just over half a litre, so it is important to know which alcoholic beverage one refers to. The use of pint in the sense of 375 ml (or the older imperial near-equivalent of 12 or 13 fluid ounces) is not restricted to informal contexts, as it is also found in government and court documents (see, e.g. the 2005 and 2012 quotations).
  See also COD-2, s.v. "pint" (4), which is marked "Cdn (Maritimes)".

  See also: mickey