pottle
/ˈpɒt(ə)l
/noun
1 archaic A measure for liquids equal to a half gallon.The bird was then pounded in a mortar, distilled with a lot of sack - a pottle was half a gallon, or four pints - and the milk....
- In 1639 an English consumer paid one penny for a pottle of milk.
- The recipe in ‘Proper newe’ calls for eight eggs and a pottle of cream.
2 archaic A small conical punnet for strawberries or other fruit.In this case, Herbert is carrying a pottle of strawberries, so the basket reference is probably the correct one....
- When you purchase a pottle take care, disreputable vendors often stuff the bottom with paper or overripe berries.
2.1NZ A small plastic or cardboard food container: a pottle of apricot yogurt...
- Once I move a little way away from the fresh produce, however, and into the cans, bottles, pottles, plastics, and packets, ‘buying local’ becomes much more difficult.
- As I dry the last of the ex-takeaway plastic pottles, I'm entranced by the effort required to eat without hands.
- Possibly earlier if an additional 6.3 million pottles of yoghurt are eaten for breakfast.
Origin
Middle English (in sense 1): from Old French potel 'little pot', diminutive of pot.