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• pound
  pound

  verb (used with object)

  to strike repeatedly with great force, as with an instrument, the fist, heavy missiles, etc.
• Pound
  Pound

  noun

  Ezra Loomis 1885–1972, U.S. poet.

pound

¹ American  

[pound] / paʊnd /

verb (used with object)

1. to strike repeatedly with great force, as with an instrument, the fist, heavy missiles, etc.

2. to produce or effect by striking or thumping, or in a manner resembling this (often followed byout ).

   to pound out a tune on the piano.

3. to force (a way) by battering; batter (often followed bydown ).

   He pounded his way through the mob. He pounded the door down.

4. to crush into a powder or paste by beating repeatedly.

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verb (used without object)

1. to strike heavy blows repeatedly.

   to pound on a door.

2. to beat or throb violently, as the heart.

3. to give forth a thumping sound.

   The drums pounded loudly.

4. to walk or go with heavy steps; move along with force or vigor.

noun

1. the act of pounding.

2. a heavy or forcible blow.

3. a thump.

pound ² American  

[pound] / paʊnd /

noun

• pounds,
  plural
• pound
  plural

1. a unit of weight and of mass, varying in different periods and countries.

2. 1. (in English-speaking countries) an avoirdupois unit of weight equal to 7000 grains, divided into 16 ounces (0.453 kilogram), used for ordinary commerce. lb., lb. av.

   2. a troy unit of weight, in the U.S. and formerly in Britain, equal to 5760 grains, divided into 12 ounces (0.373 kilogram), used for gold, silver, and other precious metals. lb. t.

   3. (in the United States) an apothecaries' unit of weight equal to 5760 grains, divided into 12 ounces (0.373 kilogram). lb. ap.

3. Also called pound sterling.  a paper money, nickel-brass coin, and monetary unit of the United Kingdom formerly equal to 20 shillings or 240 pence: equal to 100 new pence after decimalization in Feb. 1971. L; £

4. any of the monetary units of various countries, as Egypt, Lebanon, Sudan, Syria, and of certain Commonwealth of Nations countries.

5. a monetary unit of Ireland until the euro was adopted, equal to 100 pence.

6. a monetary unit of Cyprus until the euro was adopted, equal to 100 cents.

7. Also called pound Scots.  a former Scottish money of account, originally equal to the pound sterling but equal to only a twelfth of the pound sterling at the union of the crowns of England and Scotland in 1603.

8. (formerly) the Turkish lira.

9. a former monetary unit of Israel, Libya, and Nigeria.

10. Citizens Band Radio Slang. pounds, a meter reading in units of five decibels: used as a measure of loudness for incoming signals.

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pound ³ American  

[pound] / paʊnd /

noun

1. an enclosure maintained by local government for confining stray or homeless animals.

   dog pound.

2. an enclosure for sheltering, keeping, or confining livestock, or for trapping wild animals.

3. an enclosure or trap for fish.

4. a place of confinement or imprisonment.

5. a place or area where cars or other vehicles are impounded, as those towed away for being illegally parked.

   I not only had to go all the way across town to the pound, but had to pay a killer fine.

6. reach.

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verb (used with object)

1. Archaic. to shut up in or as in a pound; impound; imprison.

Pound ⁴ American  

[pound] / paʊnd /

noun

1. Ezra Loomis 1885–1972, U.S. poet.

2. Louise, 1872–1958, U.S. scholar and linguist.

3. her brother Roscoe, 1870–1964, U.S. legal scholar and writer.

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Pound ¹ British  

/ paʊnd /

noun

1. Ezra ( Loomis ). 1885–1972, US poet, translator, and critic, living in Europe. Indicted for treason by the US government (1945) for pro-Fascist broadcasts during World War II, he was committed to a mental hospital until 1958. He was a founder of imagism and championed the early work of such writers as T. S. Eliot, Joyce, and Hemingway. His life work, the Cantos (1925–70), is an unfinished sequence of poems, which incorporates mythological and historical materials in several languages as well as political, economic, and autobiographical elements

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pound ² British  

/ paʊnd /

verb

1. to strike heavily and often

2. (tr) to beat to a pulp; pulverize

3. (tr) to instil by constant drilling

   to pound Latin into him

4. to produce, as by typing heavily

5. to walk (the pavement, street, etc) repeatedly

   he pounded the pavement looking for a job

6. (intr) to throb heavily

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noun

1. a heavy blow; thump

2. the act of pounding

pound ³ British  

/ paʊnd /

noun

1. an enclosure, esp one maintained by a public authority, for keeping officially removed vehicles or distrained goods or animals, esp stray dogs

2. a place where people are confined

3. 1. a trap for animals

   2. a trap or keepnet for fish See pound net

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verb

1. (tr) to confine in or as if in a pound; impound, imprison, or restrain

pound ⁴ British  

/ paʊnd /

noun

1.  lb.  an avoirdupois unit of weight that is divided into 16 ounces and is equal to 0.453 592 kilograms

2. Abbreviation: lb tr.   lb t.  a troy unit of weight divided into 12 ounces equal to 0.373 242 kilograms

3. an apothecaries' unit of weight, used in the US, that is divided into 5760 grains and is equal to one pound troy

4.  lbf.  (not in technical usage) a unit of force equal to the mass of 1 pound avoirdupois where the acceleration of free fall is 32.174 feet per second per second

5. 1. Official name: pound sterling.  the standard monetary unit of the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, and various UK overseas territories, divided into 100 pence

   2. ( as modifier )

      a pound coin

6. 1. Cyprus: divided into 100 cents

   2. Egypt: divided into 100 piastres

   3. Lebanon: divided into 100 piastres

   4. South Sudan: divided into 100 piastres

   5. Syria: divided into 100 piastres

7. another name for lira

8. Also called: pound Scots.  a former Scottish monetary unit originally worth an English pound but later declining in value to 1 shilling 8 pence

9. Also called: punt.  the former standard monetary unit of the Republic of Ireland, divided into 100 pence; replaced by the euro in 2002

10. a former monetary unit of the Sudan replaced by the dinar in 1992

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pound Scientific  

/ pound /

1. A unit of weight in the US Customary System equal to 16 ounces (0.45 kilograms).

2. See Table at measurement See Note at weight

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pound Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing pound

• in for a penny, in for a pound
• penny wise, pound foolish

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Synonym Usage

See beat.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pounder
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• pound
  plural
• pounds
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pound¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English pounen, ponne “to pulverize, crush, powder,” Old English pūnian “to pound, beat”; akin to Dutch puin “rubbish.” The final, unetymological -d appears in the16th century

Origin of pound²

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English pund (cognate with Dutch pond, German Pfund, Gothic, Old Norse pund ), ultimately from Latin pondō “by weight, in weight” (adverb), in the phrase libra pondō “a pound by weight”; see origin at ponder, libra ¹

Origin of pound³

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English poond; compare Late Old English pund- in pundfald “animal pound, fold;” see origin at pinfold; akin to pond

Explanation

A pound is a unit of measuring mass. Your giant cat, at 16 pounds, may easily outweigh your tiny dog — and whether he does or not, he's definitely the boss. Pound is one of those words with a dizzying number of meanings. There's the unit North Americans use to measure weight, and there's also the unit of currency in the U.K. that's basically equivalent to U.S. dollars. Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon, among other countries, also have pound currencies. As a verb, pound means "to hit or make a heavy thud," the way you pound a stake in the ground or your heart pounds when you're nervous.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pound Pound pounds

The recipe calls for a pound and a half of frozen salmon; an on-screen graphic prices it at $8.99, without naming a retailer or indicating that the fish is on sale.

From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026

And, when it comes to inflation, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

Across the river at the University of Manchester, the price increases by a pound for undergraduates and postgraduates, but those with a doctorate pay £57.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

Retail beef prices have hit record highs, with the average price for U.S. ground beef climbing to $6.825 a pound in July, according to U.S.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 2026

When Jay and me were about six years old, Daddy had chopped the posts and used his big sledge to pound them into the ground nice and sturdy.

From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce

According to property records, Lively and Reynolds picked up their Pound Ridge estate for $5.7 million in 2012—the same year they married.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 30, 2026

Pound for pound, it is stronger than steel and tougher than Kevlar -- the material used to fabricate bullet-proof vests.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 6, 2026

Officers remain at both locations and Yarmouth Road is closed from its junction with Pound Lane to the junction with School Avenue.

From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2026

Recruiting firebrand poet Ezra Pound as her European talent scout, Anderson began publishing works by T.S.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2025

Before leaving the country, Frank Powers visited his parents in the small town of Pound, in southwestern Virginia.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

Millions of pounds of paraquat pesticide are sprayed annually on almonds, grapes, cotton and other crops, primarily in the San Joaquin Valley.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

"The cost to repair the equipment, remove the paint and assess any safety implications or wider damage will run into thousands of pounds."

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

While Premier League footballers can earn tens of thousands of pounds a week - sometimes hundreds of thousands - life in the lower leagues can be very different.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

The pounds that Bailey Kreinbrink lost while living in Italy for a year and eating bread, pasta and pizza.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026

“She was wearing a hundred pounds of diamonds!”

From "I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912" by Lauren Tarshis