Dictionary Definition
pound
Noun
1 16 ounces; "he tried to lift 100 pounds" [syn:
lb]
2 the basic unit of money in Great Britain; equal
to 100 pence [syn: British
pound, pound
sterling, quid]
3 the basic unit of money in Syria; equal to 100
piasters [syn: Syrian
pound]
4 the basic unit of money in the Sudan; equal to
100 piasters [syn: Sudanese
pound]
5 the basic unit of money in Lebanon; equal to
100 piasters [syn: Lebanese
pound]
6 formerly the basic unit of money in Ireland;
equal to 100 pence [syn: Irish pound,
Irish
punt, punt]
7 the basic unit of money in Egypt; equal to 100
piasters [syn: Egyptian
pound]
8 the basic unit of money in Cyprus; equal to 100
cents [syn: Cypriot
pound]
9 a nontechnical unit of force equal to the mass
of 1 pound with an acceleration of free fall equal to 32
feet/sec/sec [syn: lbf.]
10 United States writer who lived in Europe;
strongly influenced the development of modern literature
(1885-1972) [syn: Ezra Pound,
Ezra
Loomis Pound]
11 a public enclosure for stray or unlicensed
dogs; "unlicensed dogs will be taken to the pound" [syn: dog
pound]
12 the act of pounding (delivering repeated heavy
blows); "the sudden hammer of fists caught him off guard"; "the
pounding of feet on the hallway" [syn: hammer, hammering, pounding]
Verb
1 hit hard with the hand, fist, or some heavy
instrument; "the salesman pounded the door knocker"; "a
bible-thumping Southern Baptist" [syn: thump, poke]
2 strike or drive against with a heavy impact;
"ram the gate with a sledgehammer"; "pound on the door" [syn:
ram, ram down]
3 move heavily or clumsily; "The heavy man
lumbered across the room" [syn: lumber]
5 partition off into compartments; "The locks
pound the water of the canal" [syn: pound
off]
6 shut up or confine in any enclosure or within
any bounds or limits; "The prisoners are safely pounded" [syn:
pound
up]
7 place or shut up in a pound; "pound the cows so
they don't stray" [syn: impound]
8 break down and crush by beating, as with a
pestle; "pound the roots with a heavy flat stone"
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- /paʊnd/
- Rhymes with: -aʊnd
Etymology 1
pund, from *punda-, an early borrowing from pondō in lībra pondō ‘a pound by weight’ (a misinterpretation: pondō is the adverb meaning ‘by weight’, originally an ablative form of pondus). Cognate with Dutch pond, German Pfund, Swedish pund.Noun
- A unit of weight: of 16 ounces in the avoirdupois system (= 453.592 g) or of 12 troy ounces in the troy system (= 373.242 g). Its symbol is lb.
- Pound-force.
- The symbol #
- A unit of currency used in Cyprus; Egypt; Lebanon; the United Kingdom and its dependencies; and formerly in the Republic of Ireland (which now uses the euro) and Israel (which now uses the sheqel). Its symbol is £.
Translations
unit of mass
- Arabic:
- Basque: libra
- Bosnian: funta
- Bulgarian: фунт
- Catalan: lliura
- Chinese: 磅 (bàng)
- Czech: libra
- Danish: pund
- Dutch: pond
- Finnish: naula, pauna
- French: livre
- German: Pfund
- Greek: λίβρα
- Hungarian: font
- Irish: punt
- Italian: libbra
- Japanese: ポンド (pondo)
- Korean: 파운드 (paundeu)
- Lithuanian: svaras
- Luxembourgish: Pond
- Maltese: libra
- Norwegian: pund
- Polish: funt
- Portuguese: libra
- Russian: фунт (funt)
- Slovak: libra
- Slovene: funt
- Spanish: libra
- Swahili: ratili (noun 9/10)
- Swedish: pund
- Yiddish: פונט (punt)
US: symbol #
- Finnish: ristikkomerkki, risuaita (colloquial)
- Spanish: almohadilla italbrac Spain, gato , libra italbrac Puerto Rico, numeral italbrac Latin America, número italbrac Latin America
unit of currency
Synonyms
- (unit of currency): punt (the former Irish currency), pound sterling (the UK currency), sterling (the UK currency)
- (# symbol): hash (UK), sharp
See also
Noun
Usage note: Manx English
uses this word uncountably.
Translations
place for the detention of stray animals
place for the detention of automobiles
- French: fourrière
- German: Verwahrstelle
- Greek: μάντρα
hard blow
- Finnish: isku
The translations below need to be checked by
native speakers and inserted into the appropriate table(s) above.
The numbers are not necessarily correct.
Etymology 3
pounden, alteration of pounen, from pūnian. Likely influenced by Etymology 2 pounde, from pyndan "to enclose, impound," in relation to the hollow mortar for pounding with the pestle.Verb
Derived terms
Translations
strike hard repeatedly
crush to pieces
eat or drink quickly
See also
Extensive Definition
Pound may refer to:
Units
- Pound (currency), a unit of currency in various countries
- Pound sign, £
- Pound (mass), various units of mass or weight
- Number sign, #, known in the U.S. as the pound sign
- Pound (rail), a unit of rail weight
- Pound-force, a unit of force
People
- Dick Pound, Canadian sports official
- Dudley Pound, British naval officer
- Ezra Pound, American modernist poet and critic
- Louise Pound, American educator
- Olivia Pound, American educator
- R. V. Pound, physicist, eponym of the Pound-Rebka experiment
- Roscoe Pound, American legal scholar
- Stephen Pound, British politician
- Stephen Bosworth Pound, American senator and judge
- Thaddeus C. Pound, Wisconsin politician
Elsewhere
- Pound Loney, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Other
- Dog pound, a temporary home for stray, surrendered, or abandoned pet animals
- Buffalo pound (archaic), an enclosed space consisting of a chute and circular corral constructed for the purpose of capturing and killing large numbers of buffalo
- Canal pound, the stretch of level water impounded between two canal locks
- Pound cake, a type of dessert cake
- Pound (greeting), a greeting in which two individuals touch fists
- Pound (networking), an open-source reverse proxy and load balancing program
- Tha Dogg Pound, a music group
- Pound, an American rock band
- A sharp (music sharp), a musical symbol that resembles the pound sign or number sign (#)
- Pound (film), a 1970 film
pound in German: Pound
pound in French: Pound
pound in Dutch: Pound
pound in Japanese: パウンド
pound in Polish: Pound
pound in Slovak: Pound
pound in Thai: ปอนด์
pound in Volapük: Pound
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Deutschmark, Mark, Reichsmark, abrade, ache, afghani, agonize, ail, ambush, anguish, anna, assail, assault, atomize, attack, baht, bang, barrage, bash, baste, bat, batter, bawbee, beat, beat a ruffle, beat a tattoo,
beat into, beat the drum, beat time, beating, belabor, belt, biff, blanch, blench, blitz, blow, bludgeon, bonk, bottle up, box up, bray, brecciate, bruise, buffet, bung, bung up, bushwhack, cage, carat, cattery, cent, centavo, centigram, centime, check, chop, cleanse, clear, clip, clobber, cloister, clout, clump, come at, come down on,
comminute, compound, confine, constrain, conto, contriturate, contuse, coop, coop in, coop up, cork up,
count, count the beats,
crack, crack down on, cram
in, crib, crowd in,
crown, crumb, crumble, crush, cudgel, cut, dash, decagram, decigram, descend on, descend
upon, detain, dig, din, ding, dint, disintegrate, dog pound,
doghouse, dollar, dong, dram, dram avoirdupois, drive, drive in, drub, drubbing, drum, drum music, drumbeat, drumfire, drumming, dyne, empty, encage, enclose, enclosure, expel, fall on, fall upon,
farthing, feel pain,
feel the pangs, fence in, fiver, flail, flap, florin, flounder, flour, flutter, force, force in, fourpence, fourpenny, fragment, franc, fusillade, gang up on, go at,
go for, go pitapat, grain,
gram, granulate, granulize, grate, grave, grimace, grind, grind to powder, groat, guilder, guinea, gulden, half crown, half dollar,
halfpenny, hammer, harry, have a misery, have at,
heave, hell, hem in, hit, hit like lightning, hobbyhorse, hold, hold in custody, hold in
restraint, hundredweight, hurt, immure, impact, impound, inhibit, jab, jam in, jump, keep in, keep in custody,
keep in detention, keep time, kennel, kilo, kilogram, kip, knock, knock in, kopeck, krona, krone, lambaste, land on, larrup, lay at, lay hands on, lay
into, levigate,
lick, light into, limbo, lira, lurch, mag, make heavy weather, mash, mass, maul, meg, megaton, mew, mew up, mill, milligram, milreis, mite, mole, monkey, mug, new pence, np, ounce, ounce avoirdupois, ounce
troy, p, palpitate, palpitation, paradiddle, paste, patter, pelt, pen, pen up, pence, penfold, penny, pennyweight, peseta, pestle, pie, piece of eight, pinfold, pistareen, pitapat, pitch, pitch and toss, pitch into,
pitter-patter, place of confinement, play drum, plunge, plunge in, plunk, poke, poke in, pommel, pony, pounce upon, pound
avoirdupois, pound in, pound out, pound troy, poundal, pounding, powder, press in, produce, pulp, pulsate, pulsation, pulse, pulverize, pummel, punch, purgatory, purge, push in, quid, rail in, ram in, rand, rap, rat-a-tat, rat-tat,
rat-tat-tat, rataplan,
rattattoo, rear, reduce to powder, reel, restrain, restrict, rial, rid, rock, roll, rub-a-dub, ruble, ruff, ruffle, run in, rupee, sail into, scend, scrunch, scruple, seal up, set on, set
upon, shackle, shard, shekel, shilling, shoot, shred, shrink, shut in, shut up,
sixpence, slam, sledgehammer, slog, slug, smack, smart, smash, sock, sol, sou, sound a tattoo, spank, spatter, splatter, splutter, sputter, squash, squeeze in, staccato, stamp, stiver, stone, strike, stroke, stuff in, suffer, surprise, swat, sway, swing, swipe, swoop down on, take the
offensive, tamp in, tap,
tat-tat, tattoo, tenner, thrash, threepence, threepenny bit,
thresh, thrill, thrippence, throb, throbbing, thrum, thrust in, thump, thumping, thwack, tingle, tom-tom, ton, toss, toss and tumble, triturate, tumble, tuppence, twinge, twitch, twopence, units of weight, wade
into, wall in, wallop,
wallow, wedge in,
weight, welter, whack, whip, whop, wince, won, work over, writhe, yard, yaw, yen, yerk