Quantity

4 definitions found

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

  Quantity \Quan"ti*ty\, n.; pl. {Quantities}. [F. quantite, L.
     quantitas, fr. quantus bow great, how much, akin to quam bow,
     E. how, who. See {Who}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. The attribute of being so much, and not more or less; the
        property of being measurable, or capable of increase and


        decrease, multiplication and division; greatness; and more
        concretely, that which answers the question "How much?";
        measure in regard to bulk or amount; determinate or
        comparative dimensions; measure; amount; bulk; extent;
        size. Hence, in specific uses:
        (a) (Logic) The extent or extension of a general
            conception, that is, the number of species or
            individuals to which it may be applied; also, its
            content or comprehension, that is, the number of its
            constituent qualities, attributes, or relations.
        (b) (Gram.) The measure of a syllable; that which
            determines the time in which it is pronounced; as, the
            long or short quantity of a vowel or syllable.
        (c) (Mus.) The relative duration of a tone.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     2. That which can be increased, diminished, or measured;
        especially (Math.), anything to which mathematical
        processes are applicable.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Quantity is discrete when it is applied to separate
           objects, as in number; continuous, when the parts are
           connected, either in succession, as in time, motion,
           etc., or in extension, as by the dimensions of space,
           viz., length, breadth, and thickness.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     3. A determinate or estimated amount; a sum or bulk; a
        certain portion or part; sometimes, a considerable amount;
        a large portion, bulk, or sum; as, a medicine taken in
        quantities, that is, in large quantities.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The quantity of extensive and curious information
              which he had picked up during many months of
              desultory, but not unprofitable, study. --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Quantity of estate} (Law), its time of continuance, or
        degree of interest, as in fee, for life, or for years.
        --Wharton (Law Dict. )
  
     {Quantity of matter}, in a body, its mass, as determined by
        its weight, or by its momentum under a given velocity.
  
     {Quantity of motion} (Mech.), in a body, the relative amount
        of its motion, as measured by its momentum, varying as the
        product of mass and velocity.
  
     {Known quantities} (Math.), quantities whose values are
        given.
  
     {Unknown quantities} (Math.), quantities whose values are
        sought.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  quantity
       n 1: how much there is of something that you can quantify [syn: {measure},
             {amount}]
       2: an adequate or large amount; "he had a quantity of
          ammunition"
       3: something that has a magnitude and can be represented in
          mathematical expressions by a constant or a variable

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

  300 Moby Thesaurus words for "quantity":
     Alexandrine, a mass of, a world of, abundance, accent,
     accentuation, accommodation, account, acres, affluence, aggregate,
     amount, amphibrach, amphimacer, ample sufficiency, ampleness,
     amplitude, anacrusis, anapest, antispast, armful, army, arsis,
     avalanche, bacchius, bagful, bags, barometer, barrelful, barrels,
     basketful, batch, beat, bevy, binful, block, bonanza, bottleful,
     bountifulness, bountiousness, bowlful, box score, budget, bulk,
     bumper crop, bunch, burden, bushel, cadence, caesura, canon,
     capacity, capful, caseful, cast, catalexis, check, chloriamb,
     chloriambus, chunk, clod, cloud, clump, clutch, clutter, colon,
     content, copiousness, cordage, count, counterpoint, countlessness,
     covey, cretic, criterion, dactyl, dactylic hexameter, deal, degree,
     diaeresis, difference, dimeter, dipody, dochmiac, dose, elegiac,
     elegiac couplet, elegiac pentameter, emphasis, epitrite, extent,
     extravagance, exuberance, feminine caesura, fertility, flight,
     flock, flocks, flood, flow, foison, foot, full measure, full vowel,
     fullness, gauge, generosity, generousness, gob, gobs,
     graduated scale, great abundance, great plenty, group, gush, hail,
     handful, heap, heptameter, heptapody, heroic couplet, hexameter,
     hexapody, hive, host, hunk, iamb, iambic, iambic pentameter, ictus,
     ionic, jam, jillion, jingle, kettleful, landslide, lapful,
     large amount, lavishness, legion, liberality, liberalness, lilt,
     limit, load, loads, loaf, long vowel, lot, lots, lump, luxuriance,
     many, masculine caesura, mass, masses of, maximum, measure, mess,
     meter, metrical accent, metrical foot, metrical group,
     metrical unit, metron, million, mob, model, molossus, mora,
     more than enough, mountain, mouthful, movement, much, muchness,
     multitude, myriad, myriads, nest, norm, nugget, number, numbers,
     numerousness, ocean, oceans, oodles, opulence, opulency,
     outpouring, overflow, pack, paeon, parameter, parcel, part, pat,
     pattern, peck, pentameter, pentapody, period, plenitude,
     plenteousness, plentifulness, plenty, plurality, portion, poundage,
     prevalence, proceleusmatic, prodigality, product, productiveness,
     profuseness, profusion, pyrrhic, quantities, quantum, quite a few,
     ration, reading, readout, reckoning, reduced vowel, repleteness,
     repletion, rhythm, rich harvest, rich vein, richness, riot,
     riotousness, room, rout, ruck, rule, scads, scale, score, scores,
     sea, shoal, short vowel, shower, small amount, space, spate,
     spondee, sprung rhythm, standard, stowage, stream, stress,
     substantiality, substantialness, sum, summation, superabundance,
     superfluity, swarm, swing, syzygy, tale, tally, teemingness, test,
     tetrameter, tetrapody, tetraseme, the bottom line, the story,
     the whole story, thesis, thousand, throng, tidy sum, tonnage, tons,
     total, touchstone, tribrach, trillion, trimeter, tripody, triseme,
     trochee, type, value, volume, wad, wealth, weight, whole, world,
     worlds, worlds of, x number, yardstick
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  QUANTITY, pleading. That which is susceptible of measure. 
       2. It is a general rule that, when the declaration alleges an injury to 
  goods and chattels, or any contract relating to them, their quantity should 
  be stated. Gould on Pl. c. 4, Sec. 35. And in actions for the recovery of 
  real estate, the quantity of the land should be specified. Bract. 431, a; 11 
  Co. 25 b, 55 a; Doct. Pl. 85, 86; 1 East, R. 441; 8 East, R. 357; 13 East, 
  R. 102; Steph. Pl. 314, 315.