pound

Meanings

Noun

• A unit of mass equal to 16 avoirdupois ounces (= 453.592 37 g). Today this value is the most common meaning of "pound" as a unit of weight.
• 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.
• The symbol (octothorpe, hash)
• The unit of currency used in the United Kingdom and its dependencies. It is divided into 100 pence.
• Any of various units of currency used in Egypt, Lebanon, Sudan and Syria, and formerly in the Republic of Ireland, Cyprus and Israel.
• Any of various units of currency formerly used in the United States.
• A place for the detention of stray or wandering animals.
• The people who work for the pound.
• A place for the detention of automobiles that have been illegally parked, abandoned, etc. Short form of impound.
• A section of a canal between two adjacent locks.
• A kind of fishing net, having a large enclosure with a narrow entrance into which fish are directed by wings spreading outward.
• a division inside a fishing stage where cod is cured in salt brine
• A hard blow.

Verb

• To wager a pound on.
• To confine in, or as in, a pound; to impound.
• To strike hard, usually repeatedly.
• To crush to pieces; to pulverize.
• To eat or drink very quickly.
• To pitch consistently to a certain location.
• To beat strongly or throb.
• To penetrate sexually, with vigour.
• To advance heavily with measured steps.
• To make a jarring noise, as when running.

Origin

• From Middle English pound, from Old English pund ("a pound, weight"), from Proto-Germanic *pundą ("pound, weight"), an early borrowing from Latin pondō ("by weight"), ablative form of pondus, from Proto-Indo-European *pend-, *spend-. Cognate with Dutch pond, German Pfund, Danish pund and Swedish pund. pood.
• From Middle English pounde, ponde, pund, from Old English pund, related to Old English pyndan. Compare also Old English pynd.
• From an alteration of earlier poun, pown, from Middle English pounen, from Old English pūnian ("to pound, beat, bray, bruise, crush"), from Proto-Germanic *pūnōną ("to break to pieces, pulverise"). Related to Saterland Frisian Pün ("debris, fragments"), Dutch puin ("debris, fragments, rubbish"), Low German pun ("fragments"). Perhaps influenced by Etymology 2 Middle English *pound, pond, from Old English *pund, pynd, in relation to the hollow mortar for pounding with the pestle.