Approximate measures explained

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are not defined by a government or government-sanctioned organization, or which were previously defined and are now repealed, yet which remain in use.^{[1] [2] [3]}

It may be that all English-unit derived capacity measurements are derived from one original approximate measurement: the mouthful, consisting of about ounce, called the ro in ancient Egypt (their smallest recognized unit of capacity).^{[4] [5]} The mouthful was still a unit of liquid measure during Elizabethan times.^[6] (The principal Egyptian standards from small to large were the ro, hin, hekat, and khar.)^[7]

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)^[8]
• nipperkin (measure for liquor, containing no more than 1/2 pint)
• tumblerful (10 fl oz or 2 gills or 2 teacupsful)
• apothecaries' approximate measures^[9]
  • 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,^{[10] [11] [12]} U.S. FDA,^[13] NIST,^{[14] [15] [16]} A Manual of Weights, Measures, and Specific Gravity,^[17] State Board Questions and Answers,^[18] MediCalc,^[19] MacKenzie's Ten Thousand Receipts,^[20] Approximate Practical Equivalents,^[21] When is a Cup not a Cup?,^[22] Cook's Info,^[23] knitting-and.com.,^[24] and Modern American Drinks.^[25]

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 teaspoon, a pinch as teaspoon, and a smidgen as teaspoon.^{[26] [27]} 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 teaspoon, but fl oz for all other liquids.^[28]

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	tsp[29]	align=right		align=left	2 hints = 1 drop
drop	dr., gt., gtt.	align=left	to 1 minim or 5 centigrams			align=left	tsp[30]	align=right		align=left	2 drops = 1 smidgen
smidgen	smdg., smi.				align=left	tsp	align=right		align=left	2 smidgens = 1 pinch
pinch	pn.	align=left	tsp			align=left	tsp	align=right		align=left	2 pinches = 1 dash
dash	ds.				align=left	tsp	align=right		align=left	2 dashes = 1 saltspoon
saltspoon (scruple-spoon, tad)	ssp.,[31] [32] sp., scrsp.				align=left	tsp	align=right		align=left	2 saltspoons = 1 coffeespoon
coffeespoon (barspoon)	bsp.[33]				align=left	tsp	align=right		align=left	2 coffeespoons = 1 teaspoon
teaspoon (kitchen spoon, splash)	tsp. or t.	1 fluid dram or 5 mL most common size: 80 minims or 3 mL	1 fluidrachm or 4 mL, or 3.75 mL (actual range: 4.6–5.5 mL)	tablespoon or fl oz	1 fl dram or 5 mL, fl oz, 1 fl dr	align=right		align=left	2 teaspoons = 1 dessertspoon
dessertspoon	dsp., dssp. or dstspn.	2 fluid drams or 10 mL most common size: 2 fl dr or 10 mL	2 fluidrachm or 8 mL, or 7.5 mL (actual range: 8.4–10.4 mL)		2 fl dram or 8 mL	align=right		align=left	2 dessertspoons = 1 tablespoon
tablespoon (mouthful)	tbsp. or T., rarely tbls.	fluid ounce or 20 mL most common size: 5 fl dr or 20 mL	4 fluidrachm or 16 mL, or 15 mL (actual range: 12.8–15.6 mL)		1/2 fl oz or 15 mL	align=right		align=left	2 tablespoons = 1 handful
handful (fluid ounce, finger)	m. (for manipulus)[34]				1 fl oz[35] [36] [37]	align=right	1	align=left	2 handfuls = 1 wineglass
wineglass (glassful)	wgf.,	2 fluid ounces or 60 mL, w-gl.				align=right	2	align=left	2 wineglasses = 1 teacup
teacup	tcf.	4 fluid ounces				align=right	4	align=left	2 teacups = 1 coffeecup
coffeecup (tumbler, kitchencup)					8 fluid ounces	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

Notes and References

1. Book: A Dictionary of Weights and Measures for the British Isles . 1985 . Philadelphia . 9780871691682 . 2016-09-23. Zupko . Ronald Edward .
2. Book: The Rower's Almanac 2006-2007. The Rowers Almanac Inc. 978-0-9651327-6-3. 379.
3. Web site: Old Cooking Definitions . 31 May 2012 .
4. Book: Swapna Mukhopadhyay . Wolff-Michael Roth. Alternative Forms of Knowing (In) Mathematics. 28 December 2012 . Springer. 265. 9789460919213 . 30 October 2016. 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.)..
5. Book: Wilson. Hilary. Understanding Hieroglyphs: A Complete Introductory Guide. 2003 . Barnes & Noble Books. New York. 0-7607-3858-0. 165. 30 October 2016. 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..
6. Book: Klein. Herbert Arthur. The Science of Measurement: A Historical Survey. 1974. Dover Publications, Inc.. New York. 0-486-25839-4. 34. 30 October 2016. en. 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..
7. Book: Selin. Helaine. Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. 1997. 0-7923-4066-3. 1013. Springer .
8. Book: Nicholson, Edward . Men and Measures: A History of Weights and Measures Ancient and Modern . Smith, Elder, & Co. . 1912 . London . 125-126.
9. Book: Oldberg , Oscar . A Manual of Weights and Measures . . Second Edition, Revised. . 1887 . Madison, Wisconsin .
10. Book: Oldberg, Oscar . A Companion to the United States Pharmacopoeia . W. Wood . 1884 . 1122.
11. Book: United States Pharmacopoeia, Eighth Decennial Revision (1907) . 1907 . lvi .
12. The Approximate Measures of the U. S. P. . American Pharmaceutical Association . Proceedings of the American Pharmaceutical Association at the Fifty-Third Annual Meeting . 53 . 1905 . Baltimore, M.D. . 301 .
13. Web site: FDA Investigations Operations Manual 2016 Appendix D. . 2016.
14. Web site: NIST Special Publication 430 . March 1978 . National Bureau of Standards (U.S.) . 2016-09-28.
15. NIST Special Publication 1038:The International System of Units (SI) Conversion Factors for General Use . 2006 . 10 . 2016-09-26 . 2017-10-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171005202602/https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/pml/wmd/metric/SP1038.pdf . dead .
16. NIST Handbook 133: Checking the Net Contents of Packaged Goods . 2016 . 176.
17. Book: Oldberg, Oscar . A Manual of Weights, Measures, and Specific Gravity . author [C. J. Johnson, printer] . 1885 . 124 . 2016-09-28.
18. Book: Goepp, Rudolph Max . State board questions and answers . Saunders . 1908 . 13 . 2016-09-28.
19. Web site: Household Measures Conversion . 2016-09-28.
20. Book: MacKenzie, Colin . MacKenzie's Ten Thousand Receipts . July 2008 . 241 . Applewood Books . 9781429011037 . 2016-09-28.
21. Web site: MPR The Right Dose of Information . 21 July 2015 . 2016-09-28.
22. Web site: When is a Cup not a Cup? . Mescher . Virginia . 2006. 2016-09-28.
23. Web site: Measuring Spoons . Green . Denzil .
24. Web site: Weights and Measurements in Vintage Recipes .
25. Book: Kappeler, George J. . Modern American Drinks: How to Mix and Serve All Kinds of Cups and Drinks . Merriam Company . 1895 . 12 .
26. Web site: Russ . Rowlett . . P . How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement . December 2003.
27. Web site: Pinch, Dash and Smidgen Measurements . Internet Accuracy Project . 2009.
28. Web site: sizes . 2016-09-28.
29. Web site: A dash, pinch, and smidgen may be small amounts but they are still measurable cooking units . https://web.archive.org/web/20161001192509/http://www.festibrate.com/season/dash-pinch-and-smidgen/ . 2016-10-01 . dead .
30. Web site: Mini Measuring Set .
31. Book: Bailey, Pearl La Verne . Domestic science, principles and application . Webb Publishing Co. . 1914 . 21 . 2016-09-28.
32. Web site: Saltspoon .
33. Web site: Steelay .
34. Web site: Apothecaries' symbols commonly found in medical recipes. 30 October 2016.
35. Book: Lea, Elizabeth Ellicott . A Quaker Woman's Cookbook . 1982 . University of Pennsylvania Press . 9781512819250 .
36. News: How to Measure a Finger of Scotch . Whitehouse . Jordan . Leaftv . 2016-09-28.
37. Web site: Ask the bartender: Giving all those old bar terms the finger . Kenyon . Sean . 2016-09-28.