pound

A unit of weight in various measurement systems.

Noun

  1. A unit of weight in various measurement systems.
    • B-2 bombers are the only plane capable of carrying the Massive Ordinance Penetrator, which experts have highlighted as the only type of bomb potentially capable of destroying Iran’s underground Fordow nuclear facility....

    1. Ellipsis of pound weight.

    2. Various non-English units of measure.

  2. A unit of mass in various measurement systems.

    1. Ellipsis of pound mass.

    2. Various non-English units of measure.

    3. 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.

      • Research shows that retaining even one or two pounds after giving birth can make problems more likely in a subsequent pregnancy, experts said, with women who have several children facing a "slippery slope" if they...

      Synonyms: lb

    4. 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.

      Synonyms: lb t

  3. A unit of force in various measurement systems

    1. Ellipsis of pound force.

    2. Various non-English units of measure.

    3. (informal, non-scientific) Ellipsis of pound-force.

  4. A unit of currency in various currency systems.
    • "Only a hundred and ninety-three pound," said Mr. Tulliver. "You've brought less o' late; but young fellows like to have their own way with their money. Though I didn't do as I liked before I was of age." He spoke with...
    • For students in developing countries who can't get it any other way, or for students in the first world, who can but may choose not to. Pay thousands of pounds a year for your education? Or get it free online? - 2012...

    Synonyms: pound sterling mul:GBP mul:£ quid nicker sov

    1. The unit of currency used in the United Kingdom and its dependencies. It is divided into 100 pence.

    2. Any of various units of currency used in Egypt, Lebanon, Sudan, and Syria, and formerly in the Republic of Ireland, Cyprus, Nigeria, Israel, and South Africa.

      • He glanced back through what he had read and, while feeling his water flow quietly, he envied kindly Mr Beaufoy who had written it and received payment of three pounds, thirteen and six. - 1922 February, James Joyce,...

      Synonyms: punt

    3. Any of various units of currency formerly used in the United States.

      • the Rhode Island pound; the New Hampshire pound
      • He knocked out cans of warm cola at two pound fifty a time. - 2010, Steven Field, Dusty's Fort, →ISBN, page 33:

    4. (informal) Various non-English units of currency not officially called pounds.

      • In the report of the Special Budget Commission certifying the estimates for 1874-75, it was announced on authority that the total amount of this debt did not exceed 14,725,000 Turkish pounds(liras), or £13,000,000,...
  5. The symbol #.
    • Holonym: hashtag
    • To be connected, press pound.

    Synonyms: octothorpe pound sign hash hash sign hashtag number sign sharp

Origin

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, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish pund. Doublet of funt, pfund, pood, and punt.

Forms

pounds pound

Derived

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

Noun Entry 2

  1. A place for the detention of stray or wandering animals.
    • Mr. Sarnoff also sent to the pound one of the best-known dogs in the world. Nipper, the black-and-white terrier usually depicted peering with head cocked into the horn of a Victrola, listening for “His Master's Voice,”...

    Synonyms: animal shelter

  2. The people who work for the pound.
    • (Police officer to a dog owner) "He'd better stay calm or I'll have the pound come and get him." - 2002, 00:27:30 from the start, in 25th Hour:
  3. A place for the detention of automobiles that have been illegally parked, abandoned, etc.
    • Inspector Douglas Todd: Where did you get a truckload of cigarettes from anyway? / Detective Axel Foley: From the Dearborn Hijacking. / Todd: The Dearborn Hijacking? That bust went down weeks ago. That load's supposed...

    Synonyms: impound car pound impound lot

  4. A section of a canal between two adjacent locks.

    Synonyms: reach

  5. A kind of fishing net, having a large enclosure with a narrow entrance into which fish are directed by wings spreading outward.
    • Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting...
  6. A division inside a fishing stage where cod is cured in salt brine.

    Synonyms: bulk

Origin

From Middle English pounde, ponde, pund, from Old English *pund (“an enclosure”). Related to Old English pyndan (“to enclose, shut up, dam, impound”). Compare also Old English pynd (“a cistern, lake”).

Forms

pounds

Derived

dog pound fish pound impound Lob's pound lobster pound pound puller Pound Ridge

Noun Entry 3

  1. A hard blow.

    Synonyms: pounding

Origin

From an alteration of earlier poun, pown, from Middle English pounen, from Old English pūnian (“to pound, beat, bray, bruise, crush”), from Proto-West Germanic *pūn- (“broken pieces, rubble”). Related to Saterland Frisian Pün (“debris, fragments”), West Frisian pún (“debris, rubble”), Dutch puin (“debris, fragments, rubbish”), Low German pun (“fragments”).

Forms

pounds poun pown

Verb Entry 4

  1. To strike hard, usually repeatedly.
    • She had Lord James' collar in one big fist and she pounded the table with the other and talked a blue streak. Nobody could make out plain what she said, for she was mainly jabbering Swede lingo, but there was English...
    • [...] and on the Saturday heavy seas pounded the W.R. on its exposed coastal stretch between Dawlish and Teignmouth, loosening the ballast and forcing trains to proceed with extreme caution. - 1960 December, “Talking of...
    • I pounded on a farmhouse / Lookin' for a place to stay / I was mighty, mighty tired / I had come a long, long way - 1964, Bob Dylan, “Motorpsycho Nitemare”:

    Synonyms: hammer pelt bang baste batter beat belabor blow boom-boom buffet butt calcitrate cuff dab dash dowse feeze fetch one a blow flap give toco kick knock hit impact

  2. To crush to pieces; to pulverize.
    • Pound an onion, warm a spoonful of ghee and throw in the onion, brown it slightly, add your curry stuff, brown this till it smells pleasantly, […] - 1887, Indian Cookery "Local" for Young Housekeepers: Second Edition,...
    • It was the hour before the first crowing of the cocks, and along with Nyo Boto and Grandma Yaisa's clattering, the first sound the child heard was the muted, rhythmic bombpabombpabomp of wooden pestles as the other...

    Synonyms: pulverate triturate

  3. To eat or drink very quickly.
    • You really pounded that beer!
    • The sounds of a house-party rolled down the street / So we pounded our Pilsner and leapt to our feet - 2007, “Fire Marshall Willy”, performed by The Dreadnoughts:

    Synonyms: bolt down chug eat have fret drink hydrate imbibe wet one's whistle wet one's beak

  4. To pitch consistently to a certain location.
    • The pitcher has been pounding the outside corner all night.
  5. To beat strongly or throb.
    • As I tiptoed past the sleeping dog, my heart was pounding but I remained silent.
    • My head was pounding.
    • It was now about three o’clock in the morning and Francis Macomber, who had been asleep a little while after he had stopped thinking about the lion, wakened and then slept again, woke suddenly, frightened in a dream of...
  6. To penetrate sexually, with vigour.
    • I was pounding her all night!
    • She acting, so I'm attacking, try break the mattress / Sexy, so I suggested to switch to sideways / Pounded for 'bout a hour she said she tired - 2008, Gucci Mane, “Bachelor Pad”, in The Movie:

    Synonyms: drill get up in nail poke Formal terms bed coit coitize dight enjoy feague go in unto go to bed with have know lie by lie with love mount occupy penetrate season seduce sleep with

  7. To advance heavily with measured steps.
    • We pounded along, stopped, landed soldiers; went on, landed custom–house clerks to levy toll in what looked like a God–forsaken wilderness, with a tin shed and a flag–pole lost in it; landed more soldiers—to take care...
  8. To make a jarring noise, as when running.
    • The engine pounds.

Forms

pounds pounding pounded poun pown

Synonyms

buffet

Related

bang

Derived

enough sense to pound sand into a rathole ground and pound pound a beat pound dirt pound down pounding pound out pound salt pound sand pound sand into a rathole pound the pavement pound the table pound town pound up pulse-pounding take to pound town

Verb UK, regional

  1. To wager a pound on.
    • ‘Good-bye, my dear!' said Sleary. 'You'll make your fortun, I hope, and none of our poor folkth will ever trouble you, I'll pound it.’ - 1854, Dickens, chapter 4, in Hard Times:
    • “He's done,” said the Moocher brutally. “He didn't hear nuffin, I'll pound it.” - 1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life, Penguin, published 2009, page 70:

Forms

pounds pounding pounded

Related

crown farthing florin guinea penny pence shilling sovereign sterling

Verb Entry 6

  1. To confine in, or as in, a pound; to impound.
    • When I short haue shorne my sowce face & swigg’d my horny barrell, In an oaken Inne I pound my skin as a suite of guilt apparrell - c. 1620, anonymous, “Tom o’ Bedlam’s Song” in Giles Earle his Booke (British Museum,...
    • And he who were pleasantly disposed, could not well avoid to liken it to the exploit of that gallant man, who thought to pound up the crows by shutting his park gate. - 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; A speech of Mr....

Forms

pounds pounding pounded