† ˈplough-gang Sc. Obs.
[f. plough n.1 + gang n.1 (app. a late formation on analogy of ox-gang).]
A measure of arable land; by Jamieson taken as a synonym of plough-gate.
(The statements of its extent differ widely, and may point to different local uses: quot. 1793 makes it 13 acres, i.e. one eighth of a carucate or plough-land, and so = ox-gang; quot. 1748 makes it half a carucate; Jamieson, if his ‘one plough’ means the original plough and team of eight oxen, identifies it with the carucate; but he may have meant a modern two-horse plough. See next for a fourth value.)
| 1748 W. Cullen Let. in Life (1832) I. 69 As much [ground] as may employ four horses or what we call a plough-gang. 1793 Statist. Acc. Scotl., Perth. V. 56 The number of plough-gangs, in the hands of tenants, is about 141½,..reckoning 13 acres of arable land to each plough-gang. 1808 Jamieson, Pleuch-gang, Plough-gang, as much land as can be properly tilled by one plough... We also use the phrase a pleuch of land in the same sense. [Apparently an erroneous statement.] |