leaguer, noun

/ˈliːɡə/
Forms:
lager, leagarShow more Also lager, leagar, leager, leagre, legger, liggar, ligger.
Origin:
DutchShow more Adaptation of Dutch legger unit of liquid capacity (equivalent to 582 litres).
a. In historical contexts. A unit of liquid measurement formerly in use at the Cape, sometimes reckoned as four aums (see aum sense a), being approximately 120 to 136 imperial gallons (545 to 620 litres), but said by some to represent 150 imperial gallons (682 litres). b. In the modern wine industry, a measure of 127 imperial gallons (approximately 577 litres) c. A vessel containing a leaguer.
Note:
Not exclusively South African English: see note at aum.
1777 G. Forster Voy. round World I. 71The company allows the sum of forty dollars for each leagre, of which the farmer receives but twenty-four.
1786 G. Forster tr. of A. Sparrman’s Voy. to Cape of G.H. I. 40According to M. de la Caille’s account, not more than sixty liggars of red, and ninety of the white Constantia wine are made, each liggar being reckoned at six hundred French pints, or about one hundred and fifty Swedish cans.
1797 Lady A. Barnard Lett. to Henry Dundas (1973) 77They have to draw..one or two Leagars of wine..which I should reckon four oxen quite equal to.
1804 R. Percival Acct of Cape of G.H. 186A leager is a measure of one hundred and fifty gallons.
1878 A. Trollope in D.J. Opperman Spirit of Vine (1968) 295Wine was then no more than £3 the ‘ligger’ or leaguer, being a pipe containing 126 gallons.
1881 F.R. Statham Blacks, Boers & Brit. 61You want to see what can be done with South African wine?..Visit a great airy shed not far from the Cape Town docks,..the rough and ready wine has become — what? Look at it and see it as it is drawn from the huge casks — leaguers they call them here.
1896 R. Wallace Farming Indust. of Cape Col. 155Only one leaguer of sweet wine can be got from grapes which would produce three leaguers of dry wine.
1919 M. Greenlees tr. of O.F. Mentzel’s Life at Cape in Mid-18th C. 111To each company of soldiers in the garrison was given a slaughtered sheep, enough vegetables to go with it, and a legger or pipe of wine.
1920 R. Juta Tavern 121Such wine, being as good as original Constantia, was now sold by the farmers by the lager.
1926 P.W. Laidler Tavern of Ocean 64Each company was given a leaguer of wine, and the remainder of the day was given up to festivities and rejoicing.
1959 Cape Times 14 Mar. 2Two lorries, one carrying a 5-leaguer tank of wine (some 800 gallons) collided here yesterday.
1967 E. Rosenthal Encycl. of Sn Afr. 311Leaguer, South African measure for liquor, 126 gallons.
1970 Cape Times 28 Oct. 20 (advt)A wine quota of 320 leaguers.
1972 A. Scholefield Wild Dog Running 101On massive shelves behind the counter stood half-aum and anker barrels, while set against the wall and resting on the dung-and-mud floor were the great wine leggers.
1976 G. & G. Fagan in Optima Vol.26 No.2, 79In 1823 Paul made 102 leaguers of wine at the Boschendal cellars and distilled five-and-a-half leaguers of brandy in the kettle under the oak trees beside the river.
1981 P. Dane Great Houses of Constantia 100She leaves her son a wine-press.., ten empty leggers and the slave Damon.
1988 G. Levin Informant, BramleyA leaguer = 127 Imp. Galls. = 5.7734 hl.
1988 D. Hughes et al. Complete Bk of S. Afr. Wine 328One leaguer equalled slightly more than 577 litres, or 127 gallons. However, the traditional measure of Cape wine is now superceded by metrication.
A unit of liquid measurement formerly in use at the Cape, sometimes reckoned as four aums (see aum sense a), being approximately 120 to 136 imperial gallons (545 to 620 litres), but said by some to represent 150 imperial gallons (682 litres).
In the modern wine industry, a measure of 127 imperial gallons (approximately 577 litres)
A vessel containing a leaguer.
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