pound1
- to strike repeatedly with great force, as with an instrument, the fist, heavy missiles, etc.
- to produce or effect by striking or thumping, or in a manner resembling this (often followed by out): to pound out a tune on the piano.
- to force (a way) by battering; batter (often followed by down): He pounded his way through the mob. He pounded the door down.
- to crush into a powder or paste by beating repeatedly.
- to strike heavy blows repeatedly: to pound on a door.
- to beat or throb violently, as the heart.
- to give forth a thumping sound: The drums pounded loudly.
- to walk or go with heavy steps; move along with force or vigor.
- the act of pounding.
- a heavy or forcible blow.
- a thump.
Origin of pound1
Synonym study
Pound
- 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
pound1
- (when intr, often foll by on or at) to strike heavily and often
- (tr) to beat to a pulp; pulverize
- (tr) to instil by constant drillingto pound Latin into him
- (tr foll by out) to produce, as by typing heavily
- to walk (the pavement, street, etc) repeatedlyhe pounded the pavement looking for a job
- (intr) to throb heavily
- a heavy blow; thump
- the act of pounding
Word Origin
pound2
- an enclosure, esp one maintained by a public authority, for keeping officially removed vehicles or distrained goods or animals, esp stray dogs
- a place where people are confined
- a trap for animals
- a trap or keepnet for fishSee pound net
- (tr) to confine in or as if in a pound; impound, imprison, or restrain
Word Origin
pound3
- an avoirdupois unit of weight that is divided into 16 ounces and is equal to 0.453 592 kilogramsAbbreviation: lb
- a troy unit of weight divided into 12 ounces equal to 0.373 242 kilogramsAbbreviation: lb tr, lb t
- an apothecaries' unit of weight, used in the US, that is divided into 5760 grains and is equal to one pound troy
- (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 secondAbbreviation: lbf
- the standard monetary unit of the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, and various UK overseas territories, divided into 100 penceOfficial name: pound sterling
- (as modifier)a pound coin
- (the standard monetary unit of the following countries)
- Cyprus: divided into 100 cents
- Egypt: divided into 100 piastres
- Lebanon: divided into 100 piastres
- South Sudan: divided into 100 piastres
- Syria: divided into 100 piastres
- another name for lira (def. 2)
- Also called: pound Scots a former Scottish monetary unit originally worth an English pound but later declining in value to 1 shilling 8 pence
- Also called: punt the former standard monetary unit of the Republic of Ireland, divided into 100 pence; replaced by the euro in 2002
- a former monetary unit of the Sudan replaced by the dinar in 1992
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for pound out
pound
n.1
measure of weight, Old English pund "pound" (in weight or money), also "pint," from West Germanic *punda- "pound" as a measure of weight (cf. 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 late Old English word surviving in compounds (e.g. 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- (cf. Low German pun, Dutch puin "fragments"). With intrusive -d- from 16c. Sense of "beat, thrash" is from 1790. Related: Pounded; pounding.
pound
(pound)- A unit of weight that is the basis of the avoirdupois system, equal to 16 ounces or 453.592 grams.
- A unit of apothecary weight equal to 12 ounces or 373.242 grams.
pound
- A unit of weight in the US Customary System equal to 16 ounces (0.45 kilograms). See Table at measurement. See Note at weight.
Idioms and Phrases with pound out
pound out
Produce, especially on a keyboard, as in I can pound out another résumé, or She was pounding out song after song on the piano. [c. 1900]
pound
In addition to the idioms beginning with pound
- pound of flesh
- pound out
- pound the pavement
also see:
- in for a penny, in for a pound
- penny wise, pound foolish