uncia

American  

[uhn-shee-uh] / ˈʌn ʃi ə /

noun

plural

unciae

1. a bronze coin of ancient Rome, the 12th part of an as.

2. (in prescriptions) an ounce of weight or volume.

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Etymology

Origin of uncia

1685–95; < Latin: a twelfth part, akin to ūnus one; cf. inch ¹

Example Sentences

Another cement is made of a bes of brick dust, a third of rock salt, an uncia of saltpetre, and half an uncia of refined salt.

From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Agricola, Georgius

A centumpondium weighs 70.6 lbs. avoirdupois, an uncia 412.2 Troy grains, therefore, this value is equal to 72 ounces 18 pennyweights per short ton.

From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Agricola, Georgius

As for the large coins which weigh a drachma, a sicilicus, half an uncia, or an uncia, beat them into leaves.

From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Agricola, Georgius

Thus, we have a nail; pollex, pouce, pulgada, Swedish tum, for an inch; which word has been misapplied by our Saxon predecessors, and corrupted from the Latin uncia, which related only to weight.

From Sound Mind or, Contributions to the natural history and physiology of the human intellect by Haslam, John

To this copper is added eight centumpondia of poor argentiferous lead, each centumpondium of which contains an uncia and a drachma of silver, or a total of three-quarters of a libra of silver.

From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Agricola, Georgius