mease
A measure of varying quantity, often five or six hundred, used especially when…A measure of varying quantity, often five or six (long or short) hundred, used especially when counting herring.
Meaning
3 senses(UK, dated, dialectal)A measure of varying quantity, often five or six (long or short) hundred, used especially when counting herring.
a mease of herrings
(obsolete)A mess, a mese: a meal.
(obsolete)A dwelling or messuage.
Origin
The English Dialect Dictionary suggests Old Norse meiss (“wooden box, as would be used forThe English Dialect Dictionary suggests Old Norse meiss (“wooden box, as would be used for counting fish”) as a source; The Century Dictionary suggests that the term comes via Old French from a Latin word *mesa (“barrel”). One can also compare German Mass (“measure”) and indeed measure itself.
Variant of mess / mese.
Presumably related to messuage.
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