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more about avoirdupois
avoirdupois |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: 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.] 2. Avoirdupois weight. 3. Weight; heaviness; as a woman of much avoirdupois. [Colloq.] {Avoirdupois weight}, a system of weights by which coarser commodities are weighed, such as hay, grain, butter, sugar, tea. 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). From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: avoirdupois n 1: a system of weights based on the 16-ounce pound (or 7,000 grains) [syn: {avoirdupois weight}] 2: excess bodily weight; "she found fatness disgusting in herself as well as in others" [syn: {fatness}, {fat}] [ant: {leanness}]
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