English Explanatory Dictionary

pound

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A unit of weight in various measurement systems.
  2. Ellipsis of pound weight.
  3. Various non-English units of measure.
  4. A unit of mass in various measurement systems.
  5. Ellipsis of pound mass.
  6. A unit of mass equal to 16 avoirdupois ounces (= 453.592 g). Today this value is the most common meaning of "pound" as a unit of weight.
  7. A unit of mass equal to 12 troy ounces (≈ 373.242 g). Today, this is a common unit of mass when measuring precious metals, and is little used elsewhere.
  8. A unit of force in various measurement systems
  9. Ellipsis of pound force.
  10. Ellipsis of pound-force.
  11. A unit of currency in various currency systems.
  12. The unit of currency used in the United Kingdom and its dependencies. It is divided into 100 pence.
verb
  1. To wager a pound on.
noun
  1. A place for the detention of stray or wandering animals.
  2. The people who work for the pound.
  3. A place for the detention of automobiles that have been illegally parked, abandoned, etc.
  4. A section of a canal between two adjacent locks.
  5. A kind of fishing net, having a large enclosure with a narrow entrance into which fish are directed by wings spreading outward.
  6. A division inside a fishing stage where cod is cured in salt brine.
verb
  1. To confine in, or as in, a pound; to impound.
verb
  1. To strike hard, usually repeatedly.
  2. To crush to pieces; to pulverize.
  3. To eat or drink very quickly.
  4. To pitch consistently to a certain location.
  5. To beat strongly or throb.
  6. To penetrate sexually, with vigour.
  7. To advance heavily with measured steps.
  8. To make a jarring noise, as when running.
noun
  1. A hard blow.
name
  1. A surname.
  2. A town in Wise County, Virginia, United States.
  3. A village and town in Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States, both named after Thaddeus C. Pound.

Pronunciation

/ˈpaʊ̯nd/ [ˈpʰaʊ̯nd] en-us-pound.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pound.wav /ˈpæʊ̯nd/ [ˈpʰæʊ̯nd] /ˈpaːnd/ [ˈpʰaːnd] /paʊnd/

Word forms

pound pounds pounding pounded poun pown

Etymology

From Middle English pound, from Old English pund (“a pound, weight”), from Proto-West Germanic *pund, from Proto-Germanic *pundą (“pound, weight”), an early borrowing from Latin pondō (“by weight”), ablative form of pondus (“weight”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to pull, stretch”). Cognate with Dutch pond, German Pfund, Danish pund and Swedish pund. Doublet of funt, pfund, pood, and punt.

Synonyms

lb lb t pound sterling mul:GBP mul:£ quid nicker sov punt octothorpe pound sign hash hash sign hashtag number sign sharp animal shelter impound car pound impound lot reach bulk buffet hammer pelt bang baste batter beat belabor blow boom-boom butt calcitrate cuff dab dash dowse feeze fetch one a blow flap give toco kick knock hit impact jerk lambaste lay into lay on lunge patter pat pink poke pummel punch pound tap thrash

Related words

crown farthing florin guinea penny pence shilling sovereign sterling bang Poundstone

Derived words

800-pound gorilla 800-pound gorilla in the room Amsterdam pound an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure a pound to a penny assay pound avoirdupois pound Bristol pound brown pound foot-pound foot-pound-second full-pound geepound green pound grey pound half-pound in for a penny, in for a pound kilopound metric pound multipound pack on the pounds penny wise and pound foolish penny-wise and pound-foolish petropound pile on the pounds pinfold pink pound poundable poundage poundal pound cake poundcake pound coin pounder pound-foolish pound-force pound-for-pound pound for pound poundkeeper Poundland poundless poundmaker poundman pound-mass poundmaster pound of flesh pound party pound Scots pound shop pound sign Poundstone poundworth quarter-pound ship-pound shorepound sound as a pound take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves tenpounder ten pound Pom

Translations

Arabic: بَاوْنْد Arabic: رَطْل Aragonese: libra Armenian: ֆունտ Assamese: পাউণ্ড Asturian: llibra Azerbaijani: girvənkə Basque: libra Belarusian: фунт Bengali: পাউন্ড Biatah Bidayuh: paon Bulgarian: фунт Burmese: ပေါင် Catalan: lliura Chinese Cantonese: 磅 Chinese Mandarin: 磅 Czech: libra Danish: pund Dutch: pond Esperanto: funto Estonian: nael Faroese: pund Finnish: naula Finnish: pauna French: livre Galician: libra Georgian: გირვანქა Georgian: ფუნტი German: Pfund Greek: λίβρα Hausa: laba Hindi: पौंड Hungarian: font Ido: pfund Indonesian: pon Irish: punt Italian: libbra Japanese: ポンド Kazakh: фунт Korean: 파운드 Kyrgyz: фунт Lao: ປອນ Latin: libra
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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