The old bushel is equal to 2 kennings (obsolete), 4 pecks, or 8 dry gallons, and was used mostly for agricultural products, such as wheat.

In modern usage, the volume is nominal, with bushels denoting a mass defined differently for each commodity.

The bushel is an intermediate value between the pound and ton or tun that was introduced to England following the Norman Conquest.

Norman statutes made the London bushel part of the legal measure of English wine, ale, and grains.

The Assize of Bread and Ale credited to Henry III, c. 1266, defined this bushel in terms of the wine gallon,[2] while the c. 1300 Assize of Weights and Measures usually credited to Edward I or II defined the London bushel in terms of the larger corn gallon.

These measures were based on the relatively light tower pound and were rarely used in Scotland, Ireland, or Wales during the Middle Ages.

[4] The modern American or US bushel is rounded to exactly 2150.42 cubic inches, a difference of less than one part per ten million.

A basket filled to the top but overfilled to a height where it overflowed was considered to be a bushel and a peck, a generous measure (a similar concept to a baker's dozen).