avoirdupois

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: av=oir=du=pois

CIDE DICTIONARY

avoirdupois, n. & a. [OE. aver de peis, goods of weight, where peis is fr. OF. peis weight, F. poids, L. pensum. See Aver, n., and Poise, n.].

•  Goods sold by weight.  [1913 Webster]
•  Avoirdupois weight.  [1913 Webster]
•  Weight; heaviness; as, a woman of much avoirdupois.  [1913 Webster]

  " The standard Avoirdupois pound of the United States is equivalent to the weight of 27.7015 cubic inches of distilled water at 62Troy weight.) Formerly, a hundred weight was reckoned at 112 pounds, the ton being 2,240 pounds (sometimes called a long ton)."  [1913 Webster]

Avoirdupois weight, a system of weights by which coarser commodities are weighed, such as hay, grain, butter, sugar, tea.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

avoirdupois, n. (in full avoirdupois weight) a system of weights based on a pound of 16 ounces or 7,000 grains.

Etymology

ME f. OF aveir de peis goods of weight f. aveir f. L habere have + peis (see POISE(1))

THESAURUS

avoirdupois

beef, beefiness, deadweight, fatness, gravity, gross weight, heaviness, heft, heftiness, liveweight, neat weight, net, net weight, overbalance, overweight, ponderability, ponderosity, ponderousness, poundage, tonnage, underweight, weight, weightiness