It is quite seriously used.

I have seen bills of lading on the Western waters certifying that A.B.had shipped "1 lot of plunder;" that is, household goods.

It is here used figuratively for goods in general.] [Footnote 12: _Congress land_ was the old designation for land owned by the government.

Under the Confederation, the Congress was the government, and the forms of speech seem to have long retained the notion that what belonged to the United States was the property of Congress.] [Footnote 13: The commonest use of the word _chunk_ in the old days was for the ends of the sticks of cord-wood burned in the great fireplaces.
As the sticks burned in two, the chunks fell down or rolled back on the wall side of the andirons.

By putting the chunks together, a new fire was set a-going without fresh wood.