ton

[tuhn]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ton ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a unit of weight, equivalent to 2000 pounds (0.907 metric ton) avoirdupois (short ton) in the U.S. and 2240 pounds (1.016 metric tons) avoirdupois (long ton) in Great Britain.

Also called freight ton. a unit of volume for freight that weighs one ton, varying with the type of freight measured, as 40 cubic feet of oak timber or 20 bushels of wheat.

metric ton.

displacement ton.

a unit of volume used in transportation by sea, commonly equal to 40 cubic feet (1.13 cu. m) (shipping ton or measurement ton).

a unit of internal capacity of ships, equal to 100 cubic feet (2.83 cu. m) (register ton).

Often tons. Informal. a great quantity; a lot: a ton of jokes; tons of wedding presents.

British Informal. a speed of 100 miles per hour.

Origin of ton

1350–1400; Middle English; variant of tun

ton

[French tawn]

noun, plural tons [French tawn] /French tɔ̃/.

high fashion; stylishness.

the current fashion, style, or vogue.

Origin of ton

1755–65; < French < Latin tonus tone

Related formston·ish, ton·nish

[ton-ish] /ˈtɒn ɪʃ/, adjectiveton·ish·ly, ton·nish·ly, adverbton·ish·ness, ton·nish·ness, noun

-ton

a suffix formerly used to form nouns from adjectives: simpleton; singleton.

Origin of -ton

variant of dial. tone one (see tother)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for ton

ridge, elevation, pile, peak, bluff, cliff, sierra, volcano, plenty, lots, tons, oodles, thousand, trillion, much, lot, total, sum, bank, profusion

Examples from the Web for ton

Contemporary Examples of ton

But there's a ton of value for me in my background and my history, and losing it would be a shame.
My Week on Jewish Tinder
Emily Shire
January 5, 2015
Some of the things that Jay lied about to the cops actually make a ton of sense.
The Deal With Serial’s Jay? He’s Pissed Off, Mucks Up Our Timeline
Emily Shire
December 31, 2014
For those in the resource world, every ton of junk that goes into a landfill represents wasted energy.
Garbage In, Power Out
The Daily Beast
November 24, 2014
Red squirrels cache the pinecones (saving the bears a ton of work).
What It Takes to Kill a Grizzly Bear
Doug Peacock
November 23, 2014
So I went in, met Michael Bay, and did the video, and it won an MTV Video Music Award and got me a ton of work.
‘Mockingjay’s’ Mastermind: Francis Lawrence on the Book vs. Movie, ISIS Parallels, and More
Marlow Stern
November 23, 2014

Historical Examples of ton

A ton on some other planet, where the attraction of gravity is less, does not weigh half a ton.
Pax Vobiscum
Henry Drummond
"This confounded blunderbuss must weigh a ton, I think," Loubet went on.
The Downfall
Emile Zola
We only got a ton after all, when we should have liked a dozen or fourteen tons!
The Last Voyage
Lady (Annie Allnutt) Brassey
Tell Gubby I think of him as much as when I weighed half a ton.
Philo Gubb Correspondence-School Detective
Ellis Parker Butler
We'll get more ounces to the ton out of our crushings than they ever heard of on the Rand, too.
The Market-Place
Harold Frederic

British Dictionary definitions for ton

ton

noun

Also called: long ton British a unit of weight equal to 2240 pounds or 1016.046909 kilograms

Also called: short ton, net ton US a unit of weight equal to 2000 pounds or 907.184 kilograms

Also called: metric ton, tonne a unit of weight equal to 1000 kilograms

Also called: freight ton a unit of volume or weight used for charging or measuring freight in shipping. It depends on the type of material being shipped but is often taken as 40 cubic feet, 1 cubic metre, or 1000 kilogramsfreight is charged at £40 per ton of 1 cubic metre

Also called: measurement ton, shipping ton a unit of volume used in shipping freight, equal to 40 cubic feet, irrespective of the commodity shipped

Also called: displacement ton a unit used for measuring the displacement of a ship, equal to 35 cubic feet of sea water or 2240 pounds

Also called: register ton a unit of internal capacity of ships equal to 100 cubic feet

Word Origin for ton

C14: variant of tun

ton

noun

style, fashion, or distinction

Word Origin for ton

C18: from French, from Latin tonus tone

ton

noun

slang, mainly British a score or achievement of a hundred, esp a hundred miles per hour, as on a motorcycle

Word Origin for ton

C20: special use of ton 1 applied to quantities of one hundred

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for ton

late 14c., tonne, unit for measuring the carrying capacity of a ship, originally "space occupied by a tun or cask of wine," thus identical to tun (q.v.). The two words were not differentiated until 1680s. The measure of weight is first recorded late 15c.; the spelling ton is from 1530s, and became firmly established 18c.

ton in Science