pound

pronunciation

How to pronounce pound in British English: UK [paʊnd] word uk audio image

How to pronounce pound in American English: US [paʊnd] word us audio image

Noun:

16 ounces
the basic unit of money in Great Britain; equal to 100 pence
the basic unit of money in Syria; equal to 100 piasters
the basic unit of money in the Sudan; equal to 100 piasters
the basic unit of money in Lebanon; equal to 100 piasters
formerly the basic unit of money in Ireland; equal to 100 pence
the basic unit of money in Egypt; equal to 100 piasters
the basic unit of money in Cyprus; equal to 100 cents
a nontechnical unit of force equal to the mass of 1 pound with an acceleration of free fall equal to 32 feet/sec/sec
a public enclosure for stray or unlicensed dogs
the act of pounding (delivering repeated heavy blows)
Verb:

hit hard with the hand, fist, or some heavy instrument
strike or drive against with a heavy impact
move heavily or clumsily
move rhythmically
partition off into compartments
shut up or confine in any enclosure or within any bounds or limits
place or shut up in a pound
break down and crush by beating, as with a pestle

Word Origin

pound: pound: English has three distinct words pound. The measure of weight and unit of currency [OE] goes back ultimately to Latin pondō ‘12- ounce weight’, a relative of pondus ‘weight’ (source of English ponder) and pendere ‘weigh’ (source of English pension and poise). It was borrowed into prehistoric Germanic as *pundo, which has evolved into German pfund.Dutch pond, Swedish pund, and English pound. Its monetary use comes from the notion of a ‘pound’ weight of silver. Pound ‘enclosure’ [14] is of unknown origin. It existed in Old English times in the compound pundfald, which has become modern English pinfold, and pond is a variant form of it. Pound ‘crush’ [OE] is almost equally mysterious.In Old English it was pūnian (it did not acquire its final d until the 16th century, in fact), and it has been traced back to a Germanic *pūn-, which also produced Dutch puin ‘rubbish’.=> pendant, pension, poise, ponder; pinfold, pond

pound (n.1): measure of weight, Old English pund "pound" (in weight or money), also "pint," from Proto-Germanic *punda- "pound" as a measure of weight (source of Gothic pund, Old High German phunt, German Pfund, Middle Dutch pont, Old Frisian and Old Norse pund), early borrowing from Latin pondo "pound," originally in libra pondo "a pound by weight," from pondo (adv.) "by weight," ablative of *pondus "weight" (see span (v.)). Meaning "unit of money" was in Old English, originally "pound of silver." At first "12 ounces;" meaning "16 ounces" was established before late 14c. Pound cake (1747) so called because it has a pound, more or less, of each ingredient. Pound of flesh is from "Merchant of Venice" IV.i. The abbreviations lb., £ are from libra, and reflect the medieval custom of keeping accounts in Latin.

pound (n.2): "enclosed place for animals," late 14c., from a late Old English word attested in compounds (such as pundfald "penfold, pound"), related to pyndan "to dam up, enclose (water)," and thus from the same root as pond. Ultimate origin unknown; some sources indicate a possible root *bend meaning "protruding point" found only in Celtic and Germanic.

pound (v.): "hit repeatedly," from Middle English pounen, from Old English punian "crush, pulverize, beat, bruise," from West Germanic *puno- (cognates: Low German pun, Dutch puin "fragments"). With intrusive -d- from 16c. Sense of "beat, thrash" is from 1790. Related: Pounded; pounding.

1. According to published estimates , carbon fiber costs about $ 10 a pound .

2. Whether or not every pound is well-spent , games organizers have spared no security expense .