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troy weight

American  

noun

  1. a system of weights in use for precious metals and gems (formerly also for bread, grain, etc.): 24 grains = 1 pennyweight (1.555 grams); 20 pennyweights = 1 ounce (31.103 grams); 12 ounces = 1 pound (0.373 kilogram). The grain, ounce, and pound are the same as in apothecaries' weight, the grain alone being the same as in avoirdupois weight. The troy pound is no longer a standard weight in Great Britain.


troy weight British  
/ trɔɪ /

noun

  1. a system of weights used for precious metals and gemstones, based on the grain, which is identical to the avoirdupois grain. 24 grains = 1 pennyweight; 20 pennyweights = 1 (troy) ounce; 12 ounces = 1 (troy) pound

"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

troy weight Scientific  
/ troi /
  1. A system of weights and measures in which the grain is the same as in the avoirdupois system, and a pound contains 12 ounces, or 5,760 grains. Troy weight is used primarily by miners and gold dealers.

  2. Compare avoirdupois weight


Etymology

Origin of troy weight

late Middle English word dating back to 1425–75

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.

See Examples For:

In April 2018, the troy weight of an ounce of pure gold, about 31 grams, would have paid $1,333; however, if the pieces tested at 14K, the value of the batch would be around $800.

From Encyclopedia.com Apr. 9, 2018

Those things sound well, but they are shadowy and indefinite, like troy weight and avoirdupois; nobody knows what they mean.

From Following the Equator, Part 3 by Twain, Mark

Did you ever,' he says, 'feel the avoirdupois power of gold—not the troy weight of it, but the sixteen-ounces-to-the-pound force of it?'

From Options by Henry, O.

The collar is of gold, weighing thirty ounces troy weight, and contains twenty-six garters enamelled proper, in each a rose gules between; the garters are connected by knots.

From The Manual of Heraldry; Fifth Edition Being a Concise Description of the Several Terms Used, and Containing a Dictionary of Every Designation in the Science by Anonymous

By a halfpenny loaf, a day, troy weight.

From Sir Thomas More by Shakespeare (spurious and doubtful works)

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