pound — English Dictionary

pound
Word-form referencespound-force
Pronunciations (6)
  • /ˈpaʊ̯nd/
    Pronunciation notes
    • General-American
    • Received-Pronunciation
  • [ˈpʰaʊ̯nd]
    Pronunciation notes
    • General-American
    • Received-Pronunciation
  • /ˈpæʊ̯nd/
  • [ˈpʰæʊ̯nd]
  • /ˈpaːnd/
  • [ˈpʰaːnd]

Noun

  1. A unit of weight in various measurement systems.

    Examples
    More examples (1)

    B-2 bombers are the only plane capable of carrying the Massive Ordinance Penetrator, which experts have highlighted as the only type of bomb potentially capable of destroying Iran’s underground Fordow nuclear facility. Each B-2 bomber is able to carry two of these “bunker buster” bombs, which weigh an impressive 30,000 pounds each.

  2. A unit of weight in various measurement systems. Various non-English units of measure.

  3. A unit of mass in various measurement systems. Various non-English units of measure.

  4. A unit of mass in various measurement systems. A unit of mass equal to 16 avoirdupois ounces (= 453.592 g). Today this value is the most common meaning of "pound" as a unit of weight.

    Synonyms
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    Research shows that retaining even one or two pounds after giving birth can make problems more likely in a subsequent pregnancy, experts said, with women who have several children facing a "slippery slope" if they continue to gain weight each time.

  5. A unit of mass in various measurement systems. A unit of mass equal to 12 troy ounces (≈ 373.242 g). Today, this is a common unit of mass when measuring precious metals, and is little used elsewhere.

    Synonyms
    lb t
  6. A unit of force in various measurement systems Various non-English units of measure.

  7. A base unit of currency in various currency systems. The base unit of sterling, the currency used in the United Kingdom and some of its dependencies. It is divided into 100 pence.

    Synonyms
    Examples
    More examples (2)

    "Only a hundred and ninety-three pound," said Mr. Tulliver. "You've brought less o' late; but young fellows like to have their own way with their money. Though I didn't do as I liked before I was of age." He spoke with rather timid discontent.

    For students in developing countries who can't get it any other way, or for students in the first world, who can but may choose not to. Pay thousands of pounds a year for your education? Or get it free online?

  8. A base unit of currency in various currency systems. Any of various units of currency used in Egypt, Lebanon, Sudan, and Syria, and formerly in the Republic of Ireland, Cyprus, Nigeria, Israel, and South Africa.

    Synonyms
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    He glanced back through what he had read and, while feeling his water flow quietly, he envied kindly Mr Beaufoy who had written it and received payment of three pounds, thirteen and six.

  9. A base unit of currency in various currency systems. Any of various units of currency formerly used in the United States.

    Examples

    the Rhode Island pound; the New Hampshire pound

    He knocked out cans of warm cola at two pound fifty a time.

  10. A base unit of currency in various currency systems. Various non-English units of currency not officially called pounds.

    Usage
    • Informal
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    In the report of the Special Budget Commission certifying the estimates for 1874-75, it was announced on authority that the total amount of this debt did not exceed 14,725,000 Turkish pounds(liras), or £13,000,000, while the Special Commission for the verification of the budget for 1875-76 returned the total amount at 10,309,521 Turkish pounds(liras), or £8,935,000.

  11. The symbol #.

    Usage
    • US usage
    Examples

    Holonym: hashtag

    To be connected, press pound.

Verb

  1. To wager a pound on.

    Usage
    • UK usage
    • Regional
    • Slang
    • Transitive
    Examples

    ‘Good-bye, my dear!' said Sleary. 'You'll make your fortun, I hope, and none of our poor folkth will ever trouble you, I'll pound it.’

    “He's done,” said the Moocher brutally. “He didn't hear nuffin, I'll pound it.”

Noun

  1. A place for the detention of stray or wandering animals.

    Examples
    More examples (1)

    Mr. Sarnoff also sent to the pound one of the best-known dogs in the world. Nipper, the black-and-white terrier usually depicted peering with head cocked into the horn of a Victrola, listening for “His Master's Voice,” was de-emphasized as a corporate symbol.

  2. The people who work for the pound.

    Usage
    • metonymically
    Examples

    (Police officer to a dog owner) "He'd better stay calm or I'll have the pound come and get him."

  3. A place for the detention of automobiles that have been illegally parked, abandoned, etc.

    Usage
    • UK usage
    Synonyms
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    Inspector Douglas Todd: Where did you get a truckload of cigarettes from anyway? / Detective Axel Foley: From the Dearborn Hijacking. / Todd: The Dearborn Hijacking? That bust went down weeks ago. That load's supposed to be in the damn pound!

  4. A section of a canal between two adjacent locks.

    Synonyms
  5. A kind of fishing net, having a large enclosure with a narrow entrance into which fish are directed by wings spreading outward.

    Examples
    More examples (1)

    Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.

  6. A division inside a fishing stage where cod is cured in salt brine.

    Usage
    • Newfoundland
    Synonyms

Verb

  1. To confine in, or as in, a pound; to impound.

    Examples

    When I short haue shorne my sowce face & swigg’d my horny barrell, In an oaken Inne I pound my skin as a suite of guilt apparrell

    More examples (1)

    And he who were pleasantly disposed, could not well avoid to liken it to the exploit of that gallant man, who thought to pound up the crows by shutting his park gate.

Verb

  1. To strike hard, usually repeatedly.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Synonyms
    Examples
    More examples (2)

    She had Lord James' collar in one big fist and she pounded the table with the other and talked a blue streak. Nobody could make out plain what she said, for she was mainly jabbering Swede lingo, but there was English enough, of a kind, to give us some idee.

    [...] and on the Saturday heavy seas pounded the W.R. on its exposed coastal stretch between Dawlish and Teignmouth, loosening the ballast and forcing trains to proceed with extreme caution.

    I pounded on a farmhouse / Lookin' for a place to stay / I was mighty, mighty tired / I had come a long, long way

  2. To crush to pieces; to pulverize.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Examples

    Pound an onion, warm a spoonful of ghee and throw in the onion, brown it slightly, add your curry stuff, brown this till it smells pleasantly, […]

    More examples (1)

    It was the hour before the first crowing of the cocks, and along with Nyo Boto and Grandma Yaisa's clattering, the first sound the child heard was the muted, rhythmic bombpabombpabomp of wooden pestles as the other women of the village pounded couscous grain in their mortars, preparing the traditional breakfast of porridge that was cooked in earthen pots over a fire built among three rocks.

  3. To eat or drink very quickly.

    Usage
    • Slang
    • Transitive
    Synonyms
    Examples

    You really pounded that beer!

    The sounds of a house-party rolled down the street / So we pounded our Pilsner and leapt to our feet

  4. To pitch consistently to a certain location.

    Usage
    • Slang
    • Transitive
    Examples

    The pitcher has been pounding the outside corner all night.

  5. To beat strongly or throb.

    Usage
    • Intransitive
    • of a body part
    Examples

    As I tiptoed past the sleeping dog, my heart was pounding but I remained silent.

    My head was pounding.

    More examples (2)

    It was now about three o’clock in the morning and Francis Macomber, who had been asleep a little while after he had stopped thinking about the lion, wakened and then slept again, woke suddenly, frightened in a dream of the bloody-headed lion standing over him, and listening while his heart pounded, he realized that his wife was not in the other cot in the tent.

    I can't let go, you're like the chemical You're racing through me My heart just pounds, pounds, pounds...

  6. To penetrate sexually, with vigour.

    Usage
    • Slang
    • Transitive
    • Vulgar
    Examples

    I was pounding her all night!

    She acting, so I'm attacking, try break the mattress / Sexy, so I suggested to switch to sideways / Pounded for 'bout a hour she said she tired

  7. To advance heavily with measured steps.

    Examples
    More examples (1)

    We pounded along, stopped, landed soldiers; went on, landed custom–house clerks to levy toll in what looked like a God–forsaken wilderness, with a tin shed and a flag–pole lost in it; landed more soldiers—to take care of the custom–house clerks, presumably.

  8. To make a jarring noise, as when running.

    Examples

    The engine pounds.

Noun

  1. A hard blow.

    Synonyms

Noun

  1. 16 ounces avoirdupois

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
    Examples

    he got a hernia when he tried to lift 100 pounds

  2. the basic unit of money in Great Britain and Northern Ireland; equal to 100 pence

  3. a unit of apothecary weight equal to 12 ounces troy

    Broader terms
  4. the basic unit of money in Syria; equal to 100 piasters

    Synonyms
  5. the basic unit of money in the Sudan; equal to 100 piasters

  6. the basic unit of money in Lebanon; equal to 100 piasters

  7. formerly the basic unit of money in Ireland; equal to 100 pence

    Broader terms
  8. the basic unit of money in Egypt; equal to 100 piasters

  9. the basic unit of money in Cyprus; equal to 100 cents

  10. a nontechnical unit of force equal to the mass of 1 pound with an acceleration of free fall equal to 32 feet/sec/sec

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
  11. a symbol for a unit of currency (especially for the pound sterling in Great Britain)

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
  12. a public enclosure for stray or unlicensed dogs

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
    Examples

    unlicensed dogs will be taken to the pound

  13. the act of pounding (delivering repeated heavy blows)

    Broader terms
    Examples

    the sudden hammer of fists caught him off guard

    the pounding of feet on the hallway

Verb

  1. hit hard with the hand, fist, or some heavy instrument

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
    Examples

    the salesman pounded the door knocker

    a bible-thumping Southern Baptist

  2. strike or drive against with a heavy impact

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
    Examples

    ram the gate with a sledgehammer

    pound on the door

  3. move heavily or clumsily

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
    Examples

    The heavy man lumbered across the room

  4. move rhythmically

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
    Examples

    Her heart was beating fast

  5. partition off into compartments

    Synonyms
    Examples

    The locks pound the water of the canal

  6. shut up or confine in any enclosure or within any bounds or limits

    Synonyms
    Examples

    The prisoners are safely pounded

  7. place or shut up in a pound

    Synonyms
    Examples

    pound the cows so they don't stray

  8. break down and crush by beating, as with a pestle

    Examples

    pound the roots with a heavy flat stone

Word forms
poundspoundspoundingpoundedpoundedpounpown

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