Gill (volume)

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The gill or teacup is a unit of measurement for volume equal to a quarter of a pint. It is no longer in common use, except in regard to the volume of alcoholic spirits measures.

Imperial

;In imperial units:
:

US

;In United States customary units:
:

United Kingdom

Prior to metrication in the United Kingdom, the standard single measure of spirits in a pub was in England and Wales, either or in Scotland, and in Northern Ireland. After metrication, this was replaced by measures of either , at the discretion of the proprietor.

Half of a gill is a jack, or one-eighth of a pint.

But in northern England, a quarter pint could also be called a jack or a noggin, rather than a gill, and in some areas a half-pint could be called a gill, particularly for beer and milk.

In Scotland, there were additional sizes:
* big gill =
* wee gill =
* wee half gill =
* nip =

Ireland

In the republic of Ireland, the standard spirit measure was historically  gill. It still retains this value, though it is now legally specified in metric units as .

Isle of Man

Until 2022, a spirit measure in the Isle of Man was defined as .

In popular culture

There are occasional references to a gill in popular culture, such as in:

Literature

* In L. Frank Baum's '' The Patchwork Girl of Oz'', one of the ingredients required for a magic spell is a gill of water from a dark well. In chapter 19, the obscure unit is used for humor including a pun with the nursery rhyme " Jack and Jill", which also involved a well.
* In George Orwell's'' Animal Farm'', Moses the Raven is allotted a gill of beer a day after he returns, with the implication that this is part of his payment for supporting the farm leaders, the pigs.
* Dan Simmons' novel ''The Terror'' (2007) makes frequent references to gills of grog and rum.
* In Robert Louis Stevenson's ''Treasure Island,'' there are uses of the measure gill, with Israel Hands drinking a gill of brandy in the chapter "I Strike the Jolly Roger". In Stevenson's '' Kidnapped'' the protagonist, David Balfour, is "forced" "to drink about a gill" of brandy.
* In Melvyn Bragg's memoir ''Back in the Day,'' he recalls his grandfather in the pub with "a gill of bitter" in front of him.

Music

*The cumulative song " The Barley Mow" refers to "...the pint pot, half-a-pint, gill, half-a-gill, quarter-gill...".
*The traditional English folk song " Byker Hill" begins with the words, "If I had another penny, I would have another gill."
* The Fall's song "Edinburgh Man" contains the line "Keep me away from the Festival and just give me a warm quarter-gill."

Television

* A gill is also referenced in '' Archer'' season 2, episode 3 ("Blood Test") when Barry explains to Archer that a liter of blood is, "about 8 gills". (Eight gills would be , or .) A call back reference, also discussing units of blood, is further made in season 3, episode 3 ("Heart of Archness, Part 3"). In both instances, the word is pronounced with a hard ⟨g⟩.
*In 1990's " Bart the Genius," the second episode of ''The Simpsons'', a child tricks Bart by offering, "I'll trade you 1,000 picoliters of my milk for four gills of yours." (A picoliter is a trillionth of a liter, so Bart is losing almost a pint of milk in this exchange.)

Mispronunciation

Because of its more widely used homograph, ''gill'' has sometimes been mispronounced with a hard g sound. In English, the sound of soft ''⟨g⟩'' is the affricate /dʒ/, as in ''general'', ''giant'', and ''gym''.
* FX's animated cartoon ''Archer'' mispronounced ''gill'' in the episodes "Blood Test" (Season 2, Episode 3) and "Heart of Archness: Part Three" (Season 3, Episode 3).

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gill (Volume)
Units of volume
Imperial units
Customary units of measurement in the United States
Alcohol measurement
Cooking weights and measures