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 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
The quantity of each of the ingredients contained in one portion of soup is as follows: In avoirdupois weight.
From Essays; Political, Economical, and Philosophical — Volume 1 by Rumford, Benjamin, Graf von
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 quantity in the text, reduced to avoirdupois weight, amounts to twenty-eight hogsheads, at sixteen hundred weight each.--Astl.
The introduction either of the troy or avoirdupois weight into the definition of our unit, will throw that unit under the uncertainties now enveloping the troy and avoirdupois weights.
From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 3 by Randolph, Thomas Jefferson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
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