Approximate measures

{{short description|Unregulated volume units still in use}} '''Approximate measures''' are units of volumetric measurement which are not defined by a government or government-sanctioned organization, or which were previously defined and are now repealed, yet which remain in use.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Dictionary of Weights and Measures for the British Isles |date=1985 |location=Philadelphia |isbn=9780871691682 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0l_k-XMIiQIC|access-date=2016-09-23|last1=Zupko |first1=Ronald Edward }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Rower's Almanac 2006-2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rrqMzXVKU6UC&pg=PA379|publisher=The Rowers Almanac Inc|isbn=978-0-9651327-6-3|page=379}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Old Cooking Definitions |date=31 May 2012 |url=http://preparednessadvice.com/recipes/old-cooking-definitions/#.V-SuR00rJdh}}</ref>

It may be that all English-unit derived capacity measurements are derived from one original approximate measurement: the mouthful, consisting of about {{frac|1|2}} ounce, called the ro in ancient Egypt (their smallest recognized unit of capacity).<ref>{{cite book |author1=Swapna Mukhopadhyay |author2=Wolff-Michael Roth|title=Alternative Forms of Knowing (In) Mathematics|date=28 December 2012 |publisher=Springer|page=265|isbn=9789460919213 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XdJEAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA265|access-date=30 October 2016|quote=Who would have thought that the units of measure "the pint" and "the quart" are based on "the mouthful" (Klein, 1974, The World of Measurements: Masterpieces, Mysteries, and Muddles of Metrology.).}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Wilson|first1=Hilary|title=Understanding Hieroglyphs: A Complete Introductory Guide|year=2003 |publisher=Barnes & Noble Books|location=New York|isbn=0-7607-3858-0|page=165|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IpuytfjUuLAC&pg=PA165|access-date=30 October 2016|quote=The smallest recognized unit of volume was the ro, a mouthful. It was reckoned that five mouthfuls made one sixty-fourth of a heqat so there were 320 ro to one heqat.}}</ref> The mouthful was still a unit of liquid measure during Elizabethan times.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Klein|first1=Herbert Arthur|title=The Science of Measurement: A Historical Survey|date=1974|publisher=Dover Publications, Inc.|location=New York|isbn=0-486-25839-4|page=34|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CrmuSiCFyikC&pg=PA34|access-date=30 October 2016|language=en|quote=A fairly clear line of descent has thus been traced from the jigger, or handful, of Elizabethan England to the customary unit for dispensing the "firewater" that is the most prevalent drug used in our own time and culture, nearly four centuries later. In the United States the half jigger, sometimes called a pony, is half again the Elizabethan mouthful.}}</ref> (The principal Egyptian standards from small to large were the ro, hin, hekat, and khar.)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Selin|first1=Helaine|author-link=Helaine Selin|title=Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures|date=1997|isbn=0-7923-4066-3|page=1013|publisher=Springer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=raKRY3KQspsC&pg=PA1013}}</ref>

Because of the lack of official definitions, many of these units will not have a consistent value.

==United Kingdom== *glass-tumbler *breakfast-cup *tea-cup *wine-glass *table-spoon *dessert-spoon *tea-spoon *black-jack *demijohn (dame-jeanne) *goblet *pitcher *gyllot (about equal to 1/2 gill) *noggin (1/4 pint)<ref name="Nicholson-1912">{{Cite book |title=Men and Measures: A History of Weights and Measures Ancient and Modern |last=Nicholson |first=Edward |publisher=Smith, Elder, & Co. |year=1912 |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/agh0850.0001.001.umich.edu |pages=[https://archive.org/details/agh0850.0001.001.umich.edu/page/125 125]-126}}</ref> *nipperkin (measure for liquor, containing no more than 1/2 pint) *tumblerful (10 fl oz or 2 gills or 2 teacupsful) *apothecaries' approximate measures<ref>{{cite book | last =Oldberg | first =Oscar | title =A Manual of Weights and Measures | publisher =University of Wisconsin | edition =Second Edition, Revised. | date =1887 | location =Madison, Wisconsin | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=2VzzAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA227 }}</ref> **teacupful = about 4 fl oz **wineglassful = about 2 fl oz **tablespoonful = about 1/2 fl oz **dessertspoonful = about 2 fl dr **teaspoonful = about 1 fl dr **drop = about minim *teacupful (5 fl oz, or 1 gill ibid) *wineglassful (2-1/2 fl oz or 1/2 gill or 1/2 teacupful or 1/4 tumblerful) *dessertspoonful (1/4 fl oz or 2 fl dr and equal to 2 teaspoonful or 1/2 tablespoonful) *teaspoonful (1/8 fl oz or 1 fl dr and also equal to 1/2 dessertspoonful or 1/4 tablespoonful)

==United States== The vagueness of how these measures have been defined, redefined, and undefined over the years, both through written and oral history, is best exemplified by the large number of sources that need to be read and cross-referenced in order to paint even a reasonably accurate picture. So far, the list includes the ''United States Pharmacopoeia'',<ref name="USPC1884">{{cite book|title=A Companion to the United States Pharmacopoeia |publisher=W. Wood |last=Oldberg |first=Oscar |date=1884 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/acompaniontouni00wallgoog/page/n1135 1122]|url=https://archive.org/details/acompaniontouni00wallgoog}}</ref><ref name="USP1907">{{cite book|title=United States Pharmacopoeia, Eighth Decennial Revision (1907) |date=1907 |pages=lvi |url=https://archive.org/stream/pharmacopoeiaun01convgoog#page/n64/mode/2up}}</ref><ref name="USPP1905">{{cite journal | title =The Approximate Measures of the U. S. P. | publisher = American Pharmaceutical Association | journal = Proceedings of the American Pharmaceutical Association at the Fifty-Third Annual Meeting | volume = 53 | date =1905 | location =Baltimore, M.D. | pages =301 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=13MCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA301 }}</ref> U.S. FDA,<ref name="FDA1">{{cite web|title=FDA Investigations Operations Manual 2016 Appendix D|website=Food and Drug Administration |date=2016|url=https://www.fda.gov/downloads/ICECI/Inspections/IOM/UCM123517.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090709201908/http://www.fda.gov/downloads/ICECI/Inspections/IOM/UCM123517.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 9, 2009 }}</ref> NIST,<ref name="NISTsp430_1975">{{cite web|title=NIST Special Publication 430 |date=March 1978 |publisher=National Bureau of Standards (U.S.) |url=https://archive.org/stream/householdweights430nati#page/n0/mode/2up|access-date=2016-09-28}}</ref><ref name="NISTsp1038">{{cite journal |title=NIST Special Publication 1038:The International System of Units (SI) Conversion Factors for General Use |date=2006 |pages=10 |url=https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/pml/wmd/metric/SP1038.pdf |access-date=2016-09-26 |archive-date=2017-10-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171005202602/https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/pml/wmd/metric/SP1038.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="NISThb133">{{cite journal|title=NIST Handbook 133: Checking the Net Contents of Packaged Goods |date=2016 |pages=176|url=https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/pml/wmd/pubs/2015/12/17/h133-16-final2.pdf}}</ref> ''A Manual of Weights, Measures, and Specific Gravity'',<ref name="Oldberg1">{{cite book|title=A Manual of Weights, Measures, and Specific Gravity |publisher=author [C. J. Johnson, printer] |last=Oldberg |first=Oscar |date=1885 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/amanualweightsm00oldbgoog/page/n137 124] |url=https://archive.org/details/amanualweightsm00oldbgoog|access-date=2016-09-28}}</ref> State Board Questions and Answers,<ref name="Goepp1">{{cite book|title=State board questions and answers |publisher=Saunders |last=Goepp |first=Rudolph Max |date=1908 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/stateboardquest02goepgoog/page/n17 13] |url=https://archive.org/details/stateboardquest02goepgoog|access-date=2016-09-28}}</ref> MediCalc,<ref name="MediCalc">{{cite web|title=Household Measures Conversion |url=http://www.scymed.com/en/smnxxp/smnxxp.htm|access-date=2016-09-28}}</ref> ''MacKenzie's Ten Thousand Receipts'',<ref name="MacKenzie1">{{cite book|title=MacKenzie's Ten Thousand Receipts |last=MacKenzie |first=Colin |date=July 2008 |pages=241 |publisher=Applewood Books |isbn=9781429011037 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pP-nXEWI_HkC&pg=PA241|access-date=2016-09-28}}</ref> Approximate Practical Equivalents,<ref name="MPR1">{{cite web|title=MPR The Right Dose of Information |date=21 July 2015 |url=http://www.empr.com/clinical-charts/approximate-practical-equivalents/article/123355/|access-date=2016-09-28}}</ref> ''When is a Cup not a Cup?'',<ref name="Mescher1">{{cite web|title=When is a Cup not a Cup? |last=Mescher |first=Virginia |date=2006|url=http://www.raggedsoldier.com/measurments.pdf|access-date=2016-09-28}}</ref> Cook's Info,<ref name="Green1">{{cite web|title=Measuring Spoons |last=Green |first=Denzil |url=http://www.cooksinfo.com/measuring-spoons}}</ref> knitting-and.com.,<ref name="KnittingAnd1">{{cite web|title=Weights and Measurements in Vintage Recipes |url=http://www.knitting-and.com/recipes/convert.html}}</ref> and ''Modern American Drinks''.<ref name="Kappeler1">{{cite book|title=Modern American Drinks: How to Mix and Serve All Kinds of Cups and Drinks |publisher=Merriam Company |last=Kappeler |first=George J. |date=1895 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/modernamericandr00kapp/page/12 12] |url=https://archive.org/details/modernamericandr00kapp}}</ref>

Dashes, pinches, and smidgens are all traditionally very small amounts well under a teaspoon, but not more uniformly defined. In the early 2000s some companies began selling measuring spoons that defined a dash as {{frac|8}} teaspoon, a pinch as {{frac|16}} teaspoon, and a smidgen as {{frac|32}} teaspoon.<ref name="UNC">{{cite web |first=Russ |last=Rowlett |publisher=University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |url=http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/dictP.html |title=P |work=How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement |date=December 2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Pinch, Dash and Smidgen Measurements |url=http://www.accuracyproject.org/pinchdash.html |publisher=Internet Accuracy Project |year=2009}}</ref> Based on these spoons, there are two smidgens in a pinch and two pinches in a dash. However, the 1954 Angostura “''Professional Mixing Guide''” states that “a dash” is 1/6th of a teaspoon, or 1/48 of an ounce, and Victor Bergeron (a.k.a. Trader Vic, famous saloonkeeper), said that for bitters it was {{frac|1|8}} teaspoon, but {{frac|1|4}} fl oz for all other liquids.<ref name="Sizes">{{cite web|title=sizes |url=https://sizes.com/units/dash.htm|access-date=2016-09-28}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |- ! colspan="8" style="background: #cccccc" | Fluid Measures |- ! Unit ! Abbrev. ! Definition 1 (c. 1885) ! Definition 2 (c. 1905) ! Definition 3 (c. 1975) ! Definition 4 (c. 2015) ! Traditional Binary Submultiple Fl. Oz. ! Binary Submultiples |- ! hint | | | | |align=left | {{frac|1|128}} tsp<ref name="dashpinchsmidgen">{{cite web |title=A dash, pinch, and smidgen may be small amounts but they are still measurable cooking units |url=http://www.festibrate.com/season/dash-pinch-and-smidgen/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161001192509/http://www.festibrate.com/season/dash-pinch-and-smidgen/ |archive-date=2016-10-01 |url-status=dead }}</ref> |align=right | {{frac|1|1024}} |align=left |2 hints = 1 drop |- ! drop | dr., gt., gtt. |align=left |{{frac|1|8}} to 1{{frac|1|2}} minim or 5 centigrams<ref name="USPC1884" /> | | |align=left | {{frac|1|64}} tsp<ref name="MMS">{{cite web|title=Mini Measuring Set |url=https://www.preparedpantry.com/mini-measuring-spoons.aspx}}</ref> |align=right | {{frac|1|512}} |align=left |2 drops = 1 smidgen |- ! smidgen | smdg.,<ref name="Kappeler1" />{{rp|12}} smi. | | | |align=left |{{frac|1|32}} tsp |align=right | {{frac|1|256}} |align=left | 2 smidgens = 1 pinch |- ! pinch | pn. |align=left |{{frac|1|8}} tsp | | |align=left |{{frac|1|16}} tsp |align=right | {{frac|1|128}} |align=left | 2 pinches = 1 dash |- ! dash | ds. | | | |align=left |{{frac|1|8}} tsp |align=right | {{frac|1|64}} |align=left | 2 dashes = 1 saltspoon |- ! saltspoon (scruple-spoon,<ref name="Kappeler1" />{{rp|12}} tad<ref name="MMS" />) | ssp.,<ref name="Bailey1">{{cite book|title=Domestic science, principles and application |publisher=Webb Publishing Co. |last=Bailey |first=Pearl La Verne |date=1914 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/domesticsciencep00bail/page/21 21] |url=https://archive.org/details/domesticsciencep00bail|access-date=2016-09-28}}</ref><ref name="Cookbook-Saltspoon">{{cite web|title=Saltspoon |url=https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Saltspoon}}</ref> sp.,<ref name="Cookbook-Saltspoon" /> scrsp.<ref name="Kappeler1" />{{rp|12}} | | | |align=left |{{frac|1|4}} tsp<ref name="Green1" /> |align=right | {{frac|1|32}} |align=left | 2 saltspoons = 1 coffeespoon |- ! coffeespoon (barspoon) |bsp.<ref name="Steelay">{{cite web|title=Steelay |url=http://www.steelay.com/quest.php?&lang=en}}</ref> | | | |align=left |{{frac|1|2}} tsp<ref name="Green1" /> |align=right | {{frac|1|16}} |align=left | 2 coffeespoons = 1 teaspoon |- ! teaspoon (kitchen spoon, splash) | tsp. or t. |1 fluid dram or 5 mL<ref name="USPC1884" /> most common size: 80 minims or 3 mL <ref name="Oldberg1" /> |1 fluidrachm or 4 mL,<ref name="USP1907" /> or 3.75 mL<ref name="Goepp1" /> (actual range: 4.6–5.5 mL <ref name="USPP1905" />) |{{frac|1|3}} tablespoon or {{frac|1|6}} fl oz |1 fl dram or 5 mL,<ref name="FDA1" /> {{frac|1|6}} fl oz,<ref name="NISTsp1038" /> 1{{frac|1|3}} fl dr |align=right | {{frac|1|8}} |align=left | 2 teaspoons = 1 dessertspoon |- ! dessertspoon | dsp., dssp. or dstspn. |2 fluid drams or 10 mL<ref name="USPC1884" /> most common size: 2 {{frac|1|2}} fl dr or 10 mL <ref name="Oldberg1" /> |2 fluidrachm or 8 mL,<ref name="USP1907" /> or 7.5 mL<ref name="Goepp1" /> (actual range: 8.4–10.4 mL <ref name="USPP1905" />) | |2 fl dram or 8 mL<ref name="FDA1" /> |align=right | {{frac|1|4}} |align=left | 2 dessertspoons = 1 tablespoon |- ! tablespoon (mouthful) | tbsp. or T., rarely tbls. |{{frac|1|2}} fluid ounce or 20 mL<ref name="USPC1884" /> most common size: 5 fl dr or 20 mL <ref name="Oldberg1" /> |4 fluidrachm or 16 mL,<ref name="USP1907" /> or 15 mL<ref name="Goepp1" /> (actual range: 12.8–15.6 mL <ref name="USPP1905" />) | |1/2 fl oz or 15 mL<ref name="FDA1" /><ref name="NISTsp1038" /> |align=right | {{frac|1|2}} |align=left | 2 tablespoons = 1 handful |- ! handful (fluid ounce, finger) | m. (for manipulus)<ref>{{cite web|title=Apothecaries' symbols commonly found in medical recipes|url=http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/docs/dox/medical.html|access-date=30 October 2016}}</ref> | | | |1 fl oz<ref name="Lea1">{{cite book|title=A Quaker Woman's Cookbook |last=Lea |first=Elizabeth Ellicott |date=1982 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=9781512819250 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cINZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PR67}}</ref><ref name="Finger1">{{cite news|title=How to Measure a Finger of Scotch |last=Whitehouse |first=Jordan |newspaper=Leaftv |url=https://www.leaf.tv/articles/how-to-measure-a-finger-of-scotch/|access-date=2016-09-28}}</ref><ref name="Finger2">{{cite web|title=Ask the bartender: Giving all those old bar terms the finger |last=Kenyon |first=Sean |url=http://www.westword.com/restaurants/ask-the-bartender-giving-all-those-old-bar-terms-the-finger-5747968|access-date=2016-09-28}}</ref> |align=right | 1 |align=left | 2 handfuls = 1 wineglass |- ! wineglass (glassful) |wgf.,<ref name="MediCalc" /> |2 fluid ounces or 60 mL,<ref name="USPC1884" /> w-gl.<ref name="Kappeler1" />{{rp|12}} | | | |align=right | 2 |align=left | 2 wineglasses = 1 teacup |- ! teacup |tcf.<ref name="MediCalc" /> |4 fluid ounces<ref name="USPC1884" /> | | | |align=right | 4 |align=left |2 teacups = 1 coffeecup |- ! coffeecup (tumbler, kitchencup) | | | | |8 fluid ounces<ref name="NISTsp1038" /> |align=right | 8 |align=left | 2 coffeecups = 1 jug |- ! jug (pint) | | | | | |align=right | 16 |align=left | 2 jugfuls = 1 pitcher |- ! pitcher (quart) | ptch. | | | | |align=right | 32 |align=left | 2 pitchers = 1 pottle |}

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Measurement