from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. an oxgang
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. An oxgang, or as much land as an ox can plow in a year; an ancient measure of land, of indefinite quantity, but usually estimated at fifteen acres.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An allotment of land in early English village communities, the holder of which was bound to furnish one ox to the plow-team; an oxgang.
Sorry, no etymologies found.
The basis of the whole scheme of measurement in Domesday was the hide, usually of 120 acres, the amount of land that could be ploughed by a team of 8 oxen in a year; a quarter of this was the virgate, an eighth the bovate, which would therefore supply one ox to the common team.
(which were such as we call husbandmen) paid each a cock and a hen, besides a small rent in money, for a toft and one bovate of land, held of the Priory of Thurgarton.