1) A measure or quantity of land.
The word has an Old English origin and its equivalent under the Normans was ‘bovate’: 1506 one oxgang of land ... otherwise called a bouett of land, Ripon. Conventionally a carucate was an area that an ox team of eight animals might plough and the oxgang was considered to be the contribution of a single ox. In reality, the quantity varied from region to region: 1628 what Acres an oxegange doth Conteyne we Cannot Certainlie sett downe but that it hath been reputed that xxtie acres goes to ann Oxegange, Leeds. Moreover, the oxgang could be made up of selions located in different parts of the town fields: 1673 to George Fish my sonne one halfe oxgange of land lyinge dispersed in the towne feild, Brayton. It could serve as a unit on which rates might be assessed and responsibilities and privileges allocated: 1621 a common pasture belonging to Thwongestowne and there was to everye oxgange in that towne a parte of that pasture, Netherthong.