Definition of "chaldron"

chaldron¹

noun
plural chaldrons
1. (archaic) An old English dry measure, containing four quarters. At London, 36 bushels heaped up, or its equivalent weight, and more than twice as much at Newcastle. Now used exclusively for coal and coke.
  Quotations
  The celdra or chaldron is employed in some places, especially at Finchale or Wearmouth. It appears to contain four quarters or thereabouts, and is perhaps the original measure of which the quarter is a fraction.
  1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, page 208
  The visitors recorded that it [Locomotion] could haul 20 wagons, each holding one Newcastle chaldron of coal (53 cwt.).
  1950 November, “Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns Limited”, in Railway Magazine, page 724
  In the United States the chaldron is ordinarily 2,940 lbs, but at New York it is 2,500 lbs.
  ????, De Colange.

chaldron²

noun
plural chaldrons
1. Alternative form of chawdron