pound Hear it!

pound¹ Definition

pound (po̵und)

noun pl. pounds, pound

    1. the basic unit of weight in the FPS system, equal to l6 ounces avoirdupois (453.59237 grams)
    2. a unit of weight equal to 12 ounces troy or 12 ounces apothecaries' (373.2418 grams)
  2. the basic monetary unit of the United Kingdom, equal to 100 (new) pennies: before 1971 a pound was equal to 20 shillings or 240 pennies: symbol, £ (see libra, )
  3. any of the basic monetary units of various countries, as Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria
  4. a former Scottish monetary unit (pound Scots), originally equal to the British pound
  5. Bible mina

Etymology: ME < OE pund, akin to Ger pfund: WGmc loanword < L pondo, a pound, orig. abl. of pondus, weight (in libra pondo, a pound in weight), akin to pendere: see pendant

pound² Definition

pound (po̵und)

transitive verb

  1. to beat to a pulp, powder, etc.; pulverize
  2. to strike or drive with repeated, heavy blows
  3. to make by pounding
  4. to force or impose pound sense into him

Etymology: altered (with unhistoric -d) < ME pownen < OE punian, akin to Du puin, rubbish

intransitive verb

  1. to deliver repeated, heavy blows (at or on a door, etc.)
  2. to move with heavy steps or come down heavily while moving
  3. to beat heavily; throb

noun

  1. the act of pounding
  2. a hard blow
  3. the sound of this; thud; thump

pound² Idioms

pound out

  1. to flatten, smooth, etc. by pounding
    1. to play, as on a piano, with a very heavy touch
    2. to produce, as on a typewriter, by intense, unremitting effort

pound one's ear

☆

Slang to sleep

pound the pavement

☆

Slang to walk the streets, as in looking for work

pound³ Definition

pound (po̵und)

noun

  1. an enclosure, maintained as by a town, for confining stray animals until claimed
  2. an enclosure for keeping or sheltering animals
  3. an enclosure for trapping animals
  4. a place of confinement, as for arrested persons
  5. an enclosed area for catching or keeping fish, esp. the inner section of a pound net

Etymology: ME poonde < OE pund- (in comp.), akin to pyndan, to shut up

transitive verb

Archaic to confine in a pound

Pound Definition

Pound (po̵und)

  1. Pound, Ezra (Loomis) 1885-1972; U.S. poet, in Italy (1924-45; 1958-72)

  2. Pound, Roscoe 1870-1964; U.S. educator & legal scholar

pound Synonyms

pound

n.

  1. Measure of weight

    sixteen ounces, Troy pound, avoirdupois pound, commercial pound, pint; see also measure 1, weight 1.

  2. Kennel

    coop, doghouse, cage; see pen 1.

pound Synonyms

pound

v.

hammer, pulsate, crush, pulverize; see beat 1, 2, 3, hit 1. See syn. study at beat.

pound Finance Definition
The currency unit of Great Britain, comprised of 100 pence. The pound is also known as the sterling. Traders write it as GBP. The Falkland Islands, Gibraler, St. Helena, and the Sudan Republic also use the pound. It is also the currency unit of Cyprus, comprised of 100 cents, and the currency unit of Egypt and Syria, comprised of 100 piasters.
pound Usage Examples

Object

  • drum: Virtuoso guitar playing melds with pounding electronic drums to bring you tunes you'll be humming for weeks.
  • pavement: You don't have to join a gym, or pound the pavements, although you can if you like.

Converse of object

  • weigh: For men weighing 180 pounds, the key number is 16 miles a week.
  • shed: Its time to shed some pounds with the weight loss advisor!
  • scrap: He plans to scrap the pound within two years.
  • lose: Also losing the pound is part of our identity loss.
  • donate: They're asking listeners to help by donating just 5 pounds.
  • abolish: Odd it may sound, but there is a psychological connection between abolishing pounds and inches and abolishing Trial by Jury.

Modifies a noun

  • sterling: Of use pay pounds sterling country you're visiting.
  • coin: Dean also gave her encouragement by giving her a pound coin every time she lost a pound.
  • bn: A photo booklet racing services companies pounds bn is i might get.
  • redevelopment: The Cumberland remains closed whilst completing a multi-million pound redevelopment.
  • refurbishment: It has recently reopened in great splendor after a 1.5 million pound refurbishment of the Grade II listed premises in Coventry Street, W1.

Noun used with modifier

  • multi-million: A very stylish multi-million pound Leisure Center is now in business.
  • multi-billion: The UK situation So, back to this evening's central question: is the UK missing out on a multi-billion pound industry?
  • GB: Prices All prices quoted on our pages are in GB pounds sterling and include VAT.
  • summit: The small and large electric pumps filling up the summit pound.

Preposition: of

  • flesh: Filled with a certain trepidation, I decided to risk losing another pound of flesh: I stayed out in the tent.

Preposition: per

  • annum: A brand that will attract - no, demand - a shirt sponsorship of several MILLION pounds per annum?
  • inch: Look for a pressure washer that puts out 1,500 PSI ( pounds per square inch ).
Pound Quotes

My aim all along has been (in Ezra Pound's term) the most drastic desuetization of Scottish life and letters, and, inparticular, thede-Tibetanizationofthe Highlands and Islands, and getting rid of the whole gang of high mucky-mucks, famous fatheads, old wives of both sexes, stuffed shirts, hollow men with headpieces stuffed with straw, bird-wits, lookers-under-beds, trained seals, creeping Jesuses, Scots Wha Ha'evers, village idiots, policemen, leaders of white-mouse factions and noted connoisseurs of bread and butter, glorified gangsters, and what 'Billy' Phelps calls Medlar Novelists (the medlar being a fruit that becomes rotten before it is ripe),Commercial Calvinists, makers of 'noises like a turnip', and all the touts and toadies and lickspittles o the English Ascendancy, and their infernal women-folk, and all their skunkoil skulduggery.

—Grieve

pound Quotes

Can a Man be a Christian on a Pound a Week?

—Hardie, (James) Keir

A chieftain to the Highlands bound Cries 'Boatman, do not tarry! And I'll give thee a silver pound To row us o'er the ferry.'

—Campbell,Thomas

My uncle was famous for his balanced point of view. At the time of which I am writing (when he was nearly seventy) it had become so balanced, that the act of balancing seemed rather automatic.One had only to offer him an opinion for him to balance it with a counter- opinion of exactly the same weight, as a grocer puts a pound weight against a pound of sugar.

—Spender, Sir Stephen Harold

pound Quotes

Type of a coming nation, In the land of cattle and sheep, Worked on Middleton's station, 'Pound a week and his keep.'

—Lawson, Henry Hertzberg

Fromnowonthepound abroad isworth14 percentorso less in terms of other currencies. That does not mean, of course, thatthepound here in Britainöinyour pocket or purse, or in your banköhas been devalued.

—Wilson of Rievaulx, (James) Harold Wilson, Baron

But you are dull, nothing comes nimbly from you; you dance like a plumber's daughter and deserve two thousand pound in lead to your marriage, and not in goldsmith's ware.

—Middleton,Thomas

Hard pounding this, gentlemen, let'ssee who will pound longest.

—Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of

Browse dictionary entries near pound

  1. ‹ pouncet box
  2. ‹ pounce
  3. ‹ poultryman
  4. ‹ poultry
  5. ‹ poultice
  6. ‹ poulterer
  7. ‹ poult
  8. ‹ Poulsen, Kevin
  9. ‹ Poulenc
  10. ‹ poule
  1. pound-foolish ›
  2. pound net ›
  3. pound sign ›
  4. poundage ›
  5. poundal ›
  6. poundcake ›
  7. pounder ›
  8. -pounder ›
  9. pour ›
  10. pour it on ›