Meterful

Had I gone across the street to the brilliant premises of the Cut Rate Pharmaceutical where they burn electric light by the meterful I should no sooner have said “tooth-brush,” than one of the ten clerks in white hospital jackets would have poured a glittering assortment over the counter—prophylactic, lactic and every other sort.

If well constructed the latter class are most certain as to accurate measurement, but the former possess the advantage of allowing an uninterrupted current of water to pass through, which of course the latter cannot do, as the inlet and outlet valves must alternately be opened and closed to allow each meterful to be discharged and the registering vessel to be refilled.

The type of tree from which shields were made is not often identified in Latin epic, perhaps because the adjective for lindenwood in Latin was too much of a mouthful or meterful, but more likely because a difterent wood (namely, willow) was used in Italy.