A bushel is a unit of measurement used for dry goods like grain, fruit, and vegetables. When farmers harvest wheat, corn, or apples, they often measure their crop in bushels rather than pounds. One bushel equals about 8 gallons or 32 quarts, which is enough to fill a large basket or container.

The word comes from an old measurement based on actual baskets that farmers used. Before modern scales and standardized measurements, people would sell things like a bushel of corn or a bushel of potatoes, meaning whatever filled that standard-sized basket. Different crops have different weights per bushel: a bushel of wheat weighs about 60 pounds, while a bushel of oats weighs only about 32 pounds, because oats are lighter and fluffier.

You might hear someone say they have bushels of homework, meaning they have huge amounts of it. The phrase comes from the idea that bushels represent abundance: if you're measuring things in bushels, you're dealing with serious quantities. Farmers still use bushels today when reporting crop yields or selling grain, making it one of the oldest measurements still in regular use.