/paʊnd/
OriginFrom 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.
- 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”
- abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsisEllipsis of pound weight.
- Various non-English units of measure.
- abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsisEllipsis of pound mass.
- Various non-English units of measure.
- 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 s”
- 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.
- abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsisEllipsis of pound force.
- Various non-English units of measure.
- abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, informal, non-scientificEllipsis of pound-force.
- The unit of currency used in the United Kingdom and its dependencies. It is divided into 100 pence. Symbol £.
“"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 a”
“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 fre”
- 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.”
- 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.”
- informalVarious 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), o”
- USThe symbol #.
“Holonym: hashtag”
“To be connected, press pound.”
- 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 “Hi”
- metonymicallyThe 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."”
- UKA 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. Tha”
- A section of a canal between two adjacent locks.
- 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'b”
- NewfoundlandA division inside a fishing stage where cod is cured in salt brine.
- A hard blow.
- UK, regional, slang, transitiveTo 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.’”
““He's done,” said the Moocher brutally. “He didn't hear nuffin, I'll pound it.””
- 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”
“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.”
- transitiveTo 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 t”
“[...] 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.”
“I pounded on a farmhouse / Lookin' for a place to stay / I was mighty, mighty tired / I had come a long, long way”
- transitiveTo 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, […]”
“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 pestle”
- slang, transitiveTo 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”
- slang, transitiveTo pitch consistently to a certain location.
“The pitcher has been pounding the outside corner all night.”
- intransitiveTo 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, fright”
- 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 sold”
- To make a jarring noise, as when running.
- countable, uncountableA surname.
- countable, uncountableA town in Wise County, Virginia, United States.
- countable, uncountableA village and town in Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States, both named after Thaddeus C. Pound.
Formspounds(plural) · pound(UK, colloquial, plural) · pounds(present, singular, third-person) · pounding(participle, present) · pounded(participle, past) · pounded(past) · poun(alternative) · pown(alternative) · Pounds(plural)