Word of the Day

: January 1, 2008

Methuselah

noun muh-THOO-zuh-luh

What It Means

1 : an ancestor of Noah held to have lived 969 years

2 : an oversize wine bottle holding about six liters

Methuselah in Context

William's colleagues brought him a Methuselah of champagne to celebrate his retirement, and there was still half a bottle left after all the glasses were poured.

Did You Know?

What do Jeroboam, Methuselah, Salmanazar, Balthazar, and Nebuchadnezzar have in common? Larger-than-life biblical figures all, yes (four kings and a venerable patriarch), but they're all also names of oversized wine bottles. A Jeroboam is the equivalent of about four 750-milliliter bottles (about 3 liters). One Methuselah holds about eight standard bottles' worth, a Salmanazar 12, a Balthazar 16, and a Nebuchadnezzar a whopping 20. No one knows who decided to use those names for bottles, but we do know that by the 1800s "Jeroboam" was being used for large goblets or "enormous bottles of fabulous content." Later, sometime early in the 20th century, "Methuselah" and all the other names were chosen for specific bottle sizes.