tun
/tʌn/
tun noun: a large cask; an oblong vessel bulging in the middle, like a pipe or puncheon, and girt with hoops; a wine cask. (See a diagram comparing cask sizes.).
Noun (1)
tun (plural tuns)
- A large cask; an oblong vessel bulging in the middle, like a pipe or puncheon, and girt with hoops; a wine cask. (See a diagram comparing cask sizes.)
- A fermenting vat.
- A traditional unit of liquid measure (from the volume of such a cask) equal to 252 wine gallons or 2 pipes.
- Again, by 28 Hen. VIII, cap. 14, it is re-enacted that the tun of wine should contain 252 gallons, a butt of Malmsey 126 gallons, a pipe 126 gallons, a tercian or puncheon 84 gallons, a hogshead 63 gallons, a tierce 41 gallons, a barrel 31.5 gallons, a rundlet 18.5 gallons.1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, page 205
- Synonym of long ton: a unit of mass equal to 2240 pounds, 20 hundredweights of 112 pounds avoirdupois each.
- Synonyms:
- long ton
- Synonym of ton: any extremely or excessively large amount.
- He therefore sends you, meeter for your spirit, / This tun of treasure; and, in lieu of this, / Desires you let the dukedoms that you claim / Hear no more of you.1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- A Tun of Man in thy Large bulk is writ, / But sure thou'rt but a Kilderkin of wit.1682, John Dryden, Mac Flecknoe, lines 195–196
- Synonyms:
- ton
- Synonym of drunkard: a person who drinks excessively.
- Synonyms:
- drunkard
- Any shell belonging to Tonna and allied genera.
- The cryptobiotic state of a tardigrade, when its metabolism is temporarily suspended.
- A small silver cup holding half a pint, sometimes having a whistle in the handle that could not be blown until the cup was empty.
- So abundant is the supply of tankards and "tuns" […]1900, Douglas Macleane, Pembroke College, page 249
- a chimney.
Verb
tun (third-person singular simple present tuns, present participle tunning, simple past and past participle tunned)
- To put into tuns, or casks.
- Strong beer that is brewed in small quantities, and ale, whatever the quantity may be, should be tunned the second day after brewing; and small beer should be tunned as soon as it has fairly taken the yeast1843, Mary Holland, The Complete Economical Cook, and Frugal Housewife, 14th edition, page 407
Noun (2)
- A part of the ancient Maya Long Count Calendar system which corresponds to 18 winal cycles or 360 days.
Noun (3)
tun (plural tuns)
- A respectful term of address to royalties and certain award recipients
Proper noun capitalized: Tun
Tun (plural Tuns)
- A surname from Burmese.
tun meaning in Tamil
tun in Tamil
- சுழற்று, சாராயம் புளிக்கவைக்கும் தொட்டி, தடவை
Synonyms of tun
Forms of tun
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | tuns |
| plural | tunob |
| alternative form (obsolete) | tunne |
| alternative form (obsolete) | tonne |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | tuns |
| present participle | tunning |
| past participle | tunned |
| past | tunned |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Tuns |
Origin of tun
From Middle English tunne, tonne (“cask, barrel”), from Old English tunne (“tun, cask, barrel”), from Proto-Germanic *tunnǭ, *tunnō (“tun, barrel, cask”), from Latin tunna, probably of Gaulish origin. Cognate with North Frisian tenn (“tun, barrel, cask”), Dutch ton (“tun, barrel, cask”), German Tonne (“tun, barrel, drum”), Danish tønde (“barrel”), Swedish tunna (“barrel, cask, tun”), Icelandic tunna (“barrel”). Compare also Old French tonne, French tonneau (“ton, barrel”), Medieval Latin tunna (“cask”), Middle Irish tunna (“cask”), Welsh tynell (“tun, barrel”). It is uncertain whether the Germanic or the Celtic forms are the original.
From Mayan.
Borrowed from Malay tun.
Words formed from tun
Words that rhyme with tun
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- stun
- nun
- shun
- 'un
- Gunn
- jump the gun
- none
- outrun
- overdone
- begun
- dun
- fun
- hon
- pun
- speedrun
- thon
- undone
- unspun
- verdun
- winter sun
- 1
- 101
- 26+6=1
- cun
- dun dun dun
- everyone
- hard-won
- have one's mind about one
- hot cross bun
- marble run
- misdone
- mun
- Munn
- old one
- one hundred and one
- one thousand and one
- organ gun
- outdone
- outgun
- over and done
- quaker gun
- redone
- respun
- rewon
- snatch and run
- spun
- steam gun
- temperature gun
Questions about tun
- What does tun mean?
- Tun means a large cask; an oblong vessel bulging in the middle, like a pipe or puncheon, and girt with hoops; a wine cask. (See a diagram comparing cask sizes.).
- What is tun in Tamil?
- Tun in Tamil is சுழற்று, சாராயம் புளிக்கவைக்கும் தொட்டி, தடவை. See Tun meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is tun?
- Tun can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce tun?
- Tun is pronounced /tʌn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of tun?
- The plural of tun is tuns.
Words near tun in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tun (page history and authors); Tun (page history and authors); tun (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tun.wav.
Cite this entry: “tun.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tun. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.