A bushel is a unit for measuring dry goods like grain or fruit, especially in farming, equal to about 35 liters in the US. It can also simply mean a large amount of something in everyday speech.
From Old French “boissel,” a measure of grain, from “boisse,” “small box or measure,” possibly from a Gaulish word. It originally referred to the container used to measure produce.
A bushel began as the box, not the number—the container defined the measure. The phrase “hide your light under a bushel” pictures someone literally putting a lamp under a grain box, a tiny drama of talent smothered by storage.
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