avoirdupois weight

2 definitions found

avoirdupois weight - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Avoirdupois \Av`oir*du*pois"\ ([a^]v`[~e]r*d[-u]*poiz"), n. & a.
     [OE. aver de peis, goods of weight, where peis is fr. OF.
     peis weight, F. poids, L. pensum. See Aver, n., and
     Poise, n.]
     1. Goods sold by weight. [Obs.]
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     2. Avoirdupois weight.
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     3. Weight; heaviness; as, a woman of much avoirdupois.
        [Colloq.]
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     Avoirdupois weight, a system of weights by which coarser
        commodities are weighed, such as hay, grain, butter,
        sugar, tea.
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     Note: The standard Avoirdupois pound of the United States is
           equivalent to the weight of 27.7015 cubic inches of
           distilled water at 62[deg] Fahrenheit, the barometer
           being at 30 inches, and the water weighed in the air
           with brass weights. In this system of weights 16 drams
           make 1 ounce, 16 ounces 1 pound, 25 pounds 1 quarter, 4
           quarters 1 hundred weight, and 20 hundred weight 1 ton.
           The above pound contains 7,000 grains, or 453.54 grams,
           so that 1 pound avoirdupois is equivalent to 1 31-144
           pounds troy. (See Troy weight.) Formerly, a hundred
           weight was reckoned at 112 pounds, the ton being 2,240
           pounds (sometimes called a long ton).
           [1913 Webster]

avoirdupois weight - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  avoirdupois weight
      n 1: a system of weights based on the 16-ounce pound (or 7,000
           grains) [syn: avoirdupois, avoirdupois weight]