Methuselah

noun

Me·thu·se·lah mə-ˈthü-zə-lə

-ˈthyü-;

-ˈth(y)üz-lə

: an ancestor of Noah held to have lived 969 years

or methuselah : an oversize wine bottle holding about six liters

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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 usually 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. (Each of these terms is also sometimes styled lowercase.) 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." It wasn't until sometime early in the 20th century that Methuselah and all the other names were chosen for specific bottle sizes.

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Here are two other species that are able to outlive even the nonagenarian Methuselah. —