average

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: av=er=age

CIDE DICTIONARY

average, n. [OF. average, LL. averagium, prob. fr. OF. aver, F. avoir, property, horses, cattle, etc.; prop. infin., to have, from L. habere to have. Cf. F. avérage small cattle, and avarie (perh. of different origin) damage to ship or cargo, port dues. The first meaning was perhaps the service of carting a feudal lord's wheat, then charge for carriage, the contribution towards loss of things carried, in proportion to the amount of each person's property. Cf. Aver, n., Avercorn, Averpenny.].

•  That service which a tenant owed his lord, to be done by the work beasts of the tenant, as the carriage of wheat, turf, etc.  [1913 Webster]
•  A tariff or duty on goods, etc.  [1913 Webster]
•  A mean proportion, medial sum or quantity, made out of unequal sums or quantities; an arithmetical mean. Thus, if A loses 5 dollars, B 9, and C 16, the sum is 30, and the average 10.  [1913 Webster]
•  Any medial estimate or general statement derived from a comparison of diverse specific cases; a medium or usual size, quantity, quality, rate, etc.  Paley.  [1913 Webster]
•  In the English corn trade, the medial price of the several kinds of grain in the principal corn markets.  [1913 Webster]

General average, a contribution made, by all parties concerned in a sea adventure, toward a loss occasioned by the voluntary sacrifice of the property of some of the parties in interest for the benefit of all. It is called general average, because it falls upon the gross amount of ship, cargo, and freight at risk and saved by the sacrifice. Kent. -- Particular average signifies the damage or partial loss happening to the ship, or cargo, or freight, in consequence of some fortuitous or unavoidable accident; and it is borne by the individual owners of the articles damaged, or by their insurers. -- Petty averages are sundry small charges, which occur regularly, and are necessarily defrayed by the master in the usual course of a voyage; such as port charges, common pilotage, and the like, which formerly were, and in some cases still are, borne partly by the ship and partly by the cargo. In the clause commonly found in bills of lading, “primage and average accustomed,” average means a kind of composition established by usage for such charges, which were formerly assessed by way of average. Arnould. Abbott. Phillips.

On an average, taking the mean of unequal numbers or quantities.

average, a. 

•  Pertaining to an average or mean; medial; containing a mean proportion; of a mean size, quality, ability, etc.; ordinary; usual; as, an average rate of profit; an average amount of rain; the average Englishman; beings of the average stamp.  [1913 Webster]
•  According to the laws of averages; as, the loss must be made good by average contribution.  [1913 Webster]

average, v. t. 

•  To find the mean of, when sums or quantities are unequal; to reduce to a mean.  [1913 Webster]
•  To divide among a number, according to a given proportion; as, to average a loss.  [1913 Webster]
•  To do, accomplish, get, etc., on an average.  [1913 Webster]

average, v. i. 

 To form, or exist in, a mean or medial sum or quantity; to amount to, or to be, on an average; as, the losses of the owners will average twenty five dollars each; these spars average ten feet in length.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

average, n., adj., & v.
--n.
1 a the usual amount, extent, or rate. b the ordinary standard.
2 an amount obtained by dividing the total of given amounts by the number of amounts in the set.
3 Law the distribution of loss resulting from damage to a ship or cargo.
--adj.
1 usual, ordinary.
2 estimated or calculated by average.
--v.tr.
1 amount on average to (the sale of the product averaged one hundred a day).
2 do on average (averages six hours' work a day).
3 a estimate the average of. b estimate the general standard of.

Idiom

average adjustment Law the apportionment of average. average out result in an average. average out at result in an average of. batting average 1 Cricket a batsman's runs scored per completed innings.
2 Baseball a batter's safe hits per time at bat. bowling average Cricket a bowler's conceded runs per wicket taken. law of averages the principle that if one of two extremes occurs the other will also tend to so as to maintain the normal average. on (or on an) average as an average rate or estimate.

Derivative

averagely adv.

Etymology

F avarie damage to ship or cargo (see sense 3), f. It. avaria f. Arab. ' awariya damaged goods f. ' awar damage at sea, loss: -age after damage

THESAURUS

average

Everyman, Public, accustomed, amidships, as a rule, average man, average out, avoid extremes, balance, banal, besetting, bisect, bourgeois, center, central, common, common man, common run, commonplace, conventional, core, current, customarily, customary, dominant, double, epidemic, equatorial, equidistant, everyday, everyman, everywoman, fair, fairish, familiar, fold, garden, garden-variety, general, generality, generally, girl next door, golden mean, habitual, halfway, happy medium, homme moyen sensuel, household, in the main, indifferent, interior, intermediary, intermediate, juste-milieu, mean, medial, median, mediocre, mediocrity, mediterranean, medium, mesial, mezzo, mid, middle, middle course, middle ground, middle point, middle position, middle state, middle-class, middle-of-the-road, middlemost, middling, midland, midmost, midpoint, midships, midway, moderate, no great shakes, norm, normal, normally, normative, nuclear, ordinarily, ordinary, ordinary Joe, ordinary run, pair off, pandemic, par, plastic, popular, predominant, predominating, prescriptive, prevailing, prevalent, rampant, regnant, regular, regulation, reigning, rife, routine, ruck, rule, ruling, run, run-of-mine, run-of-the-mill, running, so so, so-so, split the difference, standard, stereotyped, stock, strike a balance, suburban, take the average, typical, typically, undistinguished, unexceptional, universal, unnoteworthy, unremarkable, unspectacular, usual, usually, vernacular, via media, wonted

ROGET THESAURUS

average

Imperfection

N imperfection, imperfectness, deficiency, inadequacy, peccancy, immaturity, fault, defect, weak point, screw loose, flaw, gap, twist, taint, attainder, bar sinister, hole in one's coat, blemish, weakness, half blood, shortcoming, drawback, seamy side, mediocrity, no great shakes, no great catch, not much to boast of, one-horse shay, imperfect, not perfect, deficient, defective, faulty, unsound, tainted, out of order, out of tune, cracked, leaky, sprung, warped, lame, injured, peccant, frail, inadequate, crude, incomplete, found wanting, below par, short-handed, below its full strength, under its full strength, below its full complement, indifferent, middling, ordinary, mediocre, average, so-so, coucicouci, milk and water, tolerable, fair, passable, pretty well, pretty good, rather good, moderately good, good, good enough, well enough, adequate, decent, not bad, not amiss, inobjectionable, unobjectionable, admissible, bearable, only better than nothing, secondary, inferior, second-rate, second-best, one-horse, almost, to a limited extent, rather, pretty, moderately, passing, only, considering, all things considered, enough, surgit amari aliquid.

Mean

N mean, average, median, mode, balance, medium, mediocrity, generality, golden mean middle, compromise, middle course, middle state, neutrality, mediocrity, least common denominator, mean, intermediate, middle, average, neutral, mediocre, middle-class, commonplace, on an average, in the long run, taking one with another, taking all things together, taking it for all in all, communibus annis, in round numbers, medium tenuere beati, mean, average, median, mode, balance, medium, mediocrity, generality, golden mean middle, compromise, middle course, middle state, neutrality, mediocrity, least common denominator, mean, intermediate, middle, average, neutral, mediocre, middle-class, commonplace, on an average, in the long run, taking one with another, taking all things together, taking it for all in all, communibus annis, in round numbers, medium tenuere beati.

Middle

N middle, midst, mediety, mean, medium, middle term, center &c, mid-course, mezzo termine, juste milieu, halfway house, nave, navel, omphalos, nucleus, nucleolus, equidistance, bisection, half distance, equator, diaphragm, midriff, intermediate, middle, medial, mesial, mean, mid, median, average, middlemost, midmost, mediate, intermediate, equidistant, central, mediterranean, equatorial, homocentric, in the middle, midway, halfway, midships, amidships, in medias res.