avoirdupois weight
Americannoun
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A system of weights and measures based on a pound containing 16 ounces or 7,000 grains, and equal to 453.59 grams. Avoirdupois weight is used in the United States to weigh everything except gems, precious metals, and drugs.
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Compare troy weight
Etymology
Origin of avoirdupois weight
First recorded in 1610–20
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The quantity in the text, reduced to avoirdupois weight, amounts to twenty-eight hogsheads, at sixteen hundred weight each.--Astl.
The long Naval oar is surprisingly full of avoirdupois weight.
From Dave Darrin's First Year at Annapolis by Hancock, H. Irving (Harrie Irving)
Black pepper, an ounce; allspice, half an ounce, pounded fine.Nutmeg grated, a quarter of an ounce, avoirdupois weight.
From The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual by Kitchiner, William
The following tabular statement exhibits the actual avoirdupois weight of our equipments—a fair average being taken, some being more and some less than the estimate. lb. oz.
The ladies' coloured muslin dresses, mentioned in the table subjoined, cost ten shillings per dress, and each weigh six ounces; the cotton from which they are made weighing nearly six and two-ninth ounces avoirdupois weight.
From On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures by Babbage, Charles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.