piggin Chiefly dial.
(ˈpɪgɪn)
Also 7 -an, 7–9 -en, -on, 9 -ing; β. 6 pickein.
[perh. a deriv. of pig n.2; but the history is obscure. The Gaelic pigean is dim. of pige, pigeadh, app. ad. Lowl. Sc. pig. Ir. pigin and W. picyn are app. from Eng.]
A small pail or cylindrical vessel, esp. a wooden one with one stave longer than the rest serving as a handle; a milking pail; a vessel to drink out of.
The word is recorded in the Eng. Dial. Dict. from Northumberland to Hampshire, also from Shetland; but it is not prevalent in Scotland. It is applied very variously in different localities; in Northumberland it may denote an earthenware pitcher, and sometimes, a small iron kailpot (Heslop); in W. Yorksh. ‘a tin receptacle, a deep tin tureen’ (E.D.D.); but it is generally described as of wood. Its size varies according to purpose: it is described as ‘holding near a pint’, ‘containing about a quart’, ‘holding from one to two gallons’ (Eng. Dial. Dict.).
| 1554 Lanc. Wills (1857) 113, ij butter trowghis xiij{supd}.—iiij piggins iiij{supd}. 1572 Richmond Wills (Surtees) 152, xiij stannis and barels vjs viij{supd}, iij skelis, ij collockis, ij. pickeins, ijs. 1611 Cotgr., Traïot, a milking Pale, or Piggin. 1647 Herrick Noble Numbers, His Wish to God, A little piggin and a pipkin by, To hold things fitting my necessity. 1659–60 Knaresb. Wills (Surtees) II. 245, 1 wooden piggon. 1674 Ray N.C. Words 37 A Piggin, a little pail or tub with an erect handle. 1764 Harmer Observ. xiv. ii. 71 Three or four piggins, or great wooden bowls. 1803 R. Anderson Cumberld. Ball. 74 A three-quart piggen full o' keale, He'll sup, the greedy sinner. 1827 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 177/2 A piggin, or small pail, out of which the animal fed. 1841 S. C. Hall Ireland I. 83 The usual drink is buttermilk..; which drink goes round in a small piggin, a sort of miniature of the English pail. 1863 F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia 52 A very small cedar pail—a piggin as they termed it. 1887 Strathearn Mag. Feb. 15 So cease your useless jigging, And bring the can and pigging, To hold the luscious buttermilk That will be ready soon. |