kemple

See also: Kemple

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• enPR: kĕm'p(ə)l, IPA^(key): /ˈkɛmp(ə)l/
• Rhymes: -ɛmpəl

Noun

kemple (plural kemples)

1. (Scotland) The size of a standard load of straw, approximately 450 pounds.
   • 1814, Sir Walter Scott, Waverley, Or 'Tis Sixty Years Hence, Complete‎^[1]:

     His Honour, ye see, being under hiding in thae sair times--the mair's the pity--he lies a' day, and whiles a' night, in the cove in the dern hag; but though it's a bieldy eneugh bit, and the auld gudeman o' Corse-Cleugh has panged it wi' a kemple o' strae amaist, yet when the country's quiet, and the night very cauld, his Honour whiles creeps doun here to get a warm at the ingle and a sleep amang the blankets, and gangs awa in the morning.

   • 1829, George Robertson, Rural Recollections; or, the progress of improvement in agriculture and rural affairs, page 209:

     Hence the money acquired from the sale of the three kemples, at the average of the above prices, will purchase five cubic yards of this very efficient manure.

   • 1844, Henry Stephens, The Book of the Farm, Detailing the Labours of the Farmer, Farm-Steward, Ploughman, Shepherd, Hedger, Cattle-man, Field-worker, and Dairy-Maid:

     From a crop of wheat, of 40 bushels to the acre, or of 2600 lb., at 65 lb. per bushel, the straw will weigh 9 kemples of 440 lb. each, or 3960 lb., affording just 1/2 more weight of straw than of grain.