▪ I. quintal, ˈkintal, ˈkentle
(ˈkwɪntəl)
Forms: α. 6 quintale, 6–7 quintall, 7 -tell, 5– quintal. β. 5 pl. kyntawes, 5–6 kyntal(l, 6 -tayl, 6–7 kintall, 6 kintal; 6–7 kentall, 7 -tal, 9 kentle.
[a. OF. quintal (13th c.), pl. quintaus, Sp. and Pg. quintal, It. quintale, med.L. quintale (-allus), quintile, ad. Arab. qinṭār: see kantar.]
a. A weight of one hundred pounds; a hundred-weight (112 lbs.). b. In the metric system: A weight of 100 kilograms.
| α c 1470 in Bl. Bk. Excheq. (Rolls) II. 193 Of eche quintal of balayn, iiij d. 1555 Eden Decades 213 Two or more quintales of powder. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Betweene the quintall..of Englande to that of Fraunce, there is foure poundes lost. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage viii. i. 608 They draw yearely eight thousand quintals of Quick-silver. 1692 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 627 Some French privateers have taken 3 or 4 English ships, with 15,000 quintals of fish. 1712 N. Trevanion in D. W. Prowse Hist. Newfoundland (1895) x. 272/2 And planters very backward in paying, he got only one hundred quintals of fish this season. 1732 T. Lediard Sethos II. vii. 26 Elephants teeth so large that those of one elephant weigh two quintals. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 761 A quintal of the ore is put into a retort. 1873 Ruskin Fors Clav. xxx. (1896) II. 135 The Easter ox..weighed well its twenty-five quintals. 1897 Kipling Capt. Cour. vii. 144 Then pray back my son to me! Pray back a nine-thousand-dollar boat an' a thousand quintal of fish. 1912 N. Duncan Best of Bad Job xxv. 169 A quintal here an' a quintal there. 1918 A. Huxley Let. 12 Aug. (1969) 160 He drains..twelve hogsheads of rich milk, to say nothing of the nineteen Imperial Kilderkins of cream and the thirty two quintals of sugar. 1964 Newfoundland Q. Spring 27/1 A prior pre-quintal charge is reserved from the entire voyage's value for this labour called ‘fish-making’. 1967 Times 23 Nov. 5/7 An agreement for the sale of 200 tons of Sudan cotton c.i.f. Bombay, at a price of Rs. 393.68 per quintal. 1974 D. Avery Not on Queen Victoria's Birthday vi. 102 By February 1815 the price of imported south American copper had risen to 20 dollars a quintal ({pstlg}8 per 100 lb). |
| β 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 16 b, He wolde yeue him C Kyntawes of golde. 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 190, xv. kyntayls yron of the weyght of Este Spayne. 1539 T. Pery in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. II. 140 He sawe a brassyne bell, whiche bell myght waye ij kyntalles. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. 39 b, Nothing he talks on but Kentalls of Pearle. 1623 Whitbourne Newfoundland 79 It will then make at Marseiles aboue two and twenty hundred Kentalls of that waight. 1645 in Deeds Suffolk Co., Mass. (1880) I. 65 One thousand Kintall of dry Cod fish. 1678 Wanley Wond. Lit. World i. xxiv. §16. 38/2 An Ass with his load which commonly weighed three Kintals. 1842 J. Bischoff Woollen Manuf. II. 17 Wool [from Smyrna]..2,000 Kintals. 1861 L. L. Noble Icebergs 282 Kentles of white-fleshed cod. |
▪ II. quintal
obs. variant of quintain1.