keg, n.
(kɛg)
[Later form of cag n.1, q.v.]
1. a. A small barrel or cask, usually of less than 10 gallons.
| 1632 Sherwood, A kegge, Caque. Voyez a Cag. 1678 Phillips (ed. 4) App., Kag, or Keg..a large Vessel for the laying of Sturgeon in pickle. 1766 W. Gordon Gen. Counting-ho. 318, 5 kegs of barley. 1812 Byron Juan ii. xlvi, Two casks of biscuit and a keg of butter. 1835 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 47 One could have a little keg of salt herrings sent. |
† b. A portion of sturgeon sufficient to fill a keg (cf. cag n.1 1, quot. 1704). Obs.
| 1617 Minsheu Ductor, A Kegge of Sturgion,..Vne pie{cced}e d'esturgeon. 1622 Drayton Poly-olb. xxv. (1748) 367 The Sturgeon cut to keggs (too big to handle whole). |
c. slang. The stomach.
| 1887 F. Francis Saddle & Mocassin 270 (Farmer) We'd been having a time and my keg was pretty full too. |
d. spec. A barrel of beer; beer. Austral. and N.Z. slang.
| 1945 E. G. Webber Johnny Enzed in Middle East 15/2, I thought it was the keg. 1957 ‘N. Culotta’ They're a Weird Mob (1958) viii. 110 We struggled with the kegs, and got them set up on the bench. 1959 M. Shadbolt New Zealanders 108 Wild proletarian parties, in slummy Freeman's Bay, where kegs flowed and fights flared. 1965 J. O'Grady Aussie English 16 Containers run from five-ounce glasses to eighteen-gallon kegs. |
e. In full keg ale, keg beer, keg bitter. Ale, beer, etc., from a keg (see quot. 1972).
| 1949 M. Weeks Beer & Brewing in Amer. 25 Keg (draught) beer is kept at low temperatures. 1961 Brewers' Jrnl. XCVII. 373/2 Mr. G. Dent drew attention to increased beer sales, and in particular a large increase in Keg beers. 1963 Times 12 Feb. 17/1 When demand for keg beer rose, they would seek to expand. 1967 C. Drummond Death at Furlong Post xii. 151 The brewery..had rushed out twenty-four gallons of keg beer... ‘The whole bleedin' world wants keg ale.’ 1968 W. Garner Deep, Deep Freeze vi. 73 The Duke of York..stocked a good line in keg bitter. 1968 ‘D. Rutherford’ Skin for Skin ii. 18 Crispin ordered two pints of Keg and carried them to the dimmest corner of the Saloon. 1971 Times 12 June 14/5 The new drinkers who do like beer are willing to pay extra for keg. 1972 Which? Apr. 124/2 One way to think of ‘keg’ beer is as a ‘bottled’ beer, but in a five or 11 gallon sealed metal container. Keg is chilled, filtered and (usually) pasteurised beer which has had carbon dioxide added. |
2. attrib., as keg-buoy, keg-head; keg-fig (see quot.).
| 1868 Paxton Bot. Dict., Keg fig of Japan is the fruit of Diospyros Kaki. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4) 127 Keg Buoy, for floating drift nets. 1895 Century Mag. Aug. 570 He had on a keg hat, all shiny silk, and a red necktie. |
Hence † keg v., to cut up (a sturgeon) into ‘kegs’.
| 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Jack-a-lent Wks. (1630) i. 117/1 The poore Anchoue is pittifully pepper'd in the fight, whilst the Sturgeon is keg'd, randed, and iold about the eares. |