The word “buttload,” often used colloquially to mean “a large amount,” actually has roots in old English wine measurement systems.
A “butt” was a real unit used to measure large quantities of liquid, especially wine or ale, during medieval times and into the early modern era.
One butt equals two hogsheads, and each hogshead typically holds 63 gallons (in the imperial system), making a butt exactly 126 gallons.
This unit was most commonly used in England and parts of Europe, especially in reference to shipping and storing wine, beer, and other liquids in wooden casks or barrels.
These massive barrels were known as butts (yes, that’s the actual term), and they often appeared in old taverns and ships’ cargo.
Today, the term survives mostly as slang or humor — “a buttload of something” — but it does in fact originate from a formal measurement that once held legal and commercial significance.
