mass

pronunciation

How to pronounce mass in British English: UK [mæs] word uk audio image

How to pronounce mass in American English: US [ mæs] word us audio image

Noun:

the property of a body that causes it to have weight in a gravitational field
(often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
an ill-structured collection of similar things (objects or people)
a body of matter without definite shape
the common people generally
the property of something that is great in magnitude
Verb:

join together into a mass or collect or form a mass
Adjective:

occurring widely (as to many people)
gathered or tending to gather into a mass or whole

Word Origin

mass: mass: English has two distinct words mass. The one meaning ‘Eucharist’ [OE] comes from late Latin missa, a noun use of the feminine past participle of mittere ‘send’ (source of English admit, commit, dismiss, mission, etc) possibly arising from Ite, missa est ‘Go, it is the dismissal’, the last words of the Latin Eucharist service. Mass ‘amount of matter’ [14] comes via Old French masse and Latin massa from Greek maza ‘barley cake’, hence ‘lump, mass’.The derivative massive [15] goes back ultimately to Vulgar Latin *massīceus. A possible relative is massage [19], a borrowing from French. It was a derivative of masser ‘massage’, which may have been acquired from Portuguese amassar ‘knead’, a verb based on massa ‘mass, dough’.=> admit, commit, dismiss, mission, transmit; massage, massive

mass (v.): "to gather in a mass" (intransitive), 1560s, from mass (n.1) or from French masser. Transitive sense by c. 1600. Related: Massed; massing.

mass (n.1): "lump, quantity, size," late 14c., from Old French masse "lump, heap, pile; crowd, large amount; ingot, bar" (11c.), and directly from Latin massa "kneaded dough, lump, that which adheres together like dough," probably from Greek maza "barley cake, lump, mass, ball," related to massein "to knead," from PIE root *mag- "to knead" (source of Lithuanian minkyti "to knead," see macerate). Sense extended in English 1580s to "a large quantity, amount, or number." Strict sense in physics is from 1704. As an adjective from 1733, first attested in mass meeting in American English. mass culture is from 1916 in sociology (earlier in biology); mass hysteria is from 1914; mass media is from 1923; mass movement is from 1897; mass production is from 1920; mass grave is from 1918; mass murder from 1880.

mass (n.2): "Eucharistic service," Old English mæsse, from Vulgar Latin *messa "eucharistic service," literally "dismissal," from Late Latin missa "dismissal," fem. past participle of mittere "to let go, send" (see mission); probably so called from the concluding words of the service, Ite, missa est, "Go, (the prayer) has been sent," or "Go, it is the dismissal." Sometimes glossed in Old English as sendnes "send-ness."

2. That move dramatically accelerated the pace of advancement and made the internet accessible to the mass market .

3. But going for the low-end mass market while maintaining the high-end is new .

4. The company didn 't mention possible mass layoffs during its most recent labor negotiations .