Avoirdupois

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.]
        [1913 Webster]


  
     2. Avoirdupois weight.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Weight; heaviness; as, a woman of much avoirdupois.
        [Colloq.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Avoirdupois weight}, a system of weights by which coarser
        commodities are weighed, such as hay, grain, butter,
        sugar, tea.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [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}, {blubber}]
          [ant: {leanness}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  23 Moby Thesaurus words for "avoirdupois":
     beef, beefiness, deadweight, fatness, gravity, gross weight,
     heaviness, heft, heftiness, liveweight, neat weight, net,
     net weight, overbalance, overweight, ponderability, ponderosity,
     ponderousness, poundage, tonnage, underweight, weight,
     weightiness