livre

Borrowed from French livre. Doublet of libra and lira.

(historical) An ancient French unit of weight, equal to about 1 avoirdupois pound.


lightspeed

en-noun

lightspeed (countable and uncountable, plural lightspeeds)

If we're going to a world a hundred light-years from here at near lightspeed, we spend according to our own perceptions, only a few minutes doing so and arrive only a few minutes older.

1994, Ursula K. Le Guin, A Fisherman of the Inland Sea, Victor Gollancz (UK), published 1996, →ISBN, page 7:

He paused, then finished, “with the drive from the Linz, he can do over 500 lightspeeds to meet us.

2005, W. Strawn Douglas, Oracle And Other Stories, page 134:

The speed of light (in vacuum unless another medium is specified).


millisecond

We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year.

2012 January 5, Robert L. Dorit, “Rereading Darwin”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 2012-11-14, page 23:

The suggestion that pulsars were rotating neutron stars was put forth independently by Thomas Gold and Franco Pacini in 1968, and was soon proven beyond reasonable doubt by the discovery of a pulsar with a very short (33-millisecond) pulse period in the Crab nebula.ᵂ

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10⁻³ seconds. Symbol: ms


leap

From Middle English lep, from Old English lēap (“basket”), from Proto-West Germanic *laup, from Proto-Germanic *laupaz (“container, basket”). Cognate with Icelandic laupur (“basket”).


nanosecond

“We were heavily involved in also trading: people on Wall Street were buying our stuff to save a few nanoseconds on the wire, the banks were doing crazy things like pulling the fibres under the Hudson taut to make them a little big shorter, to save a few nanoseconds between their datacentre and the stock exchange,” he said.

2023 March 26, Alex Hern, quoting Michael Kagan, “Cryptocurrencies add nothing useful to society, says chip-maker Nvidia”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10⁻⁹ seconds. Symbol: ns


minute

Tok Pisin: minit

→ Baluchi: منٹ (minaṭṭ)

→ Bengali: মিনিট (miniṭ)

→ Burmese: မိနစ် (mi.nac)

→ Central Dusun: minit

→ Chichewa: miniti

→ Fiji Hindi: minit

→ Fijian: miniti

→ Gujarati: મિનિટ (miniṭ)

→ Hausa: minti

→ Hindi: मिनट (minaṭ)

→ Indonesian: menit

→ Malay: minit

→ Malayalam: മിനിറ്റ് (miniṟṟŭ)

→ Maori: miniti

→ Marathi: मिनिट (miniṭ)

→ Nepali: मिनेट (mineṭ)

→ Odia: ମିନଟ (minaṭa)

→ Pashto: منټ (minëṭ)

→ Punjabi: ਮਿਨਟ (minaṭ)

→ Sinhalese: මිනිත්තුව (minittuwa)

→ Urdu: مِنَٹ (minaṭ)

From Middle English mynute, minute, mynet, from Old French minute, from Medieval Latin minūta (“60th of an hour; note”). Doublet of menu and menudo.

der

You have twenty minutes to complete the test.

A unit of time which is one sixtieth of an hour (sixty seconds).

Tell her, that I some Certainty may bring; / I go this minute to attend the king.

րոպե

unit of angular measure — see also minute of angle

Oh, I ain't heard that song in a minute!

“Man, I haven’t seen you in a minute,” he says, smiling still. “Maybe like two, three years ago?”

2010, Kenneth Ring, Letters from Palestine, page 18:

I seen Too$hort up there. Me and $hort ain't talked in a minute.

RON:I remember my first. I was a minute younger than you. […]I remember thinking, saying to myself..."This is the first time I'm eating as a person who killed someone."

2016 November 8, Ben Katai, Josh Corbin, Sharon Lennon, directed by Ben Katai, StartUp(Recapitalization) (StartUp (TV series)), season 1, episode 10 (TV), spoken by Ronald Dacey (Edi Gathegi):

(slang, US, Canada, dialectal) A while or a long unspecified period of time


pound

en-noun

pound (plural pounds or (UK colloquial) pound)

pounds (plural)
pound (UK colloquial plural)

From Middle English pound, from Old English pund (“a pound, weight”), from Proto-West Germanic *pund, from Proto-Germanic *pundą (“pound, weight”), an early borrowing from Latin pondō (“by weight”), ablative form of pondus (“weight”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to pull, stretch”).
Cognate with Dutch pond, German Pfund, Danish pund and Swedish pund. Doublet of pood and punt.

der

an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure

an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves

A unit of weight in various measurement systems

A unit of mass in various measurement systems

A unit of force in various measurement systems


deal

From Middle English del, dele, from Old English dǣl (“part, share, portion”), from Proto-West Germanic *daili, from Proto-Germanic *dailiz (“part, deal”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰail- (“part, watershed”). Cognate with Scots dele (“part, portion”), West Frisian diel (“part, share”), Dutch deel (“part, share, portion”), German Teil (“part, portion, section”), Danish del (“part”), Swedish del ("part, portion, piece") Icelandic deila (“division, contention”), Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌹𐌻𐍃 (dails, “portion”), Slovene del (“part”). Related to Old English dāl (“portion”). More at dole.

cog

There is a vast deal of difference in memories, as well as in every thing else, and therefore you should make allowance for your cousin, and pity her deficiency.

1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter II, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 35:

There is a deal of obscurity concerning the identity of the species thus multitudinously baptized.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 32, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

“They know our boats will stand up to their work,” said Willison, “and that counts for a good deal. A low estimate from us doesn't mean scamped work, but just that we want to keep the yard busy over a slack time.”

1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 3, in Well Tackled!:

Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.

2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:

(often followed by of) An indefinite quantity or amount; a lot (now usually qualified by great or good).


deal

en-verb

deal (third-person singular simple present deals, present participle dealing, simple past and past participle dealt or (nonstandard) dealed)

deals (present singular third-person)
dealing (participle present)
dealt (participle past)
dealt (past)
dealed (nonstandard participle past)
dealed (nonstandard past)

From Middle English delen, from Old English dǣlan (“to divide, part”), from Proto-West Germanic *dailijan, from Proto-Germanic *dailijaną (“to divide, part, deal”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰail- (“part, watershed”).
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian diele (“to divide, separate”), Dutch delen, German teilen, Swedish dela; and with Lithuanian dalinti (“divide”), Russian дели́ть (delítʹ).

cog

Wel said syr Uwayne go on your waye, and lete me dele.

1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book IV, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC:

(obsolete, intransitive) To take action; to act.

syöttää

baseball slang: to pitch — see also pitch


deal

en-noun

deal (countable and uncountable, plural deals)

From Middle English dele (“plank”), from Middle Low German dele, from Old Saxon thili, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *þiljǭ (“plank, board”); cognate with Old English þille. Doublet of thill.

It shall not be lawful for any person to land any timber, planks or board, deals, staves, tar, pitch, turpentine, rozin or other the commodities aforesaid, on any part of the present quays within the city of Bristol, from any vessel coming into the said port...

1819, Charles Pope, Practical abridgement of the laws of customs and excise, 5th edition, page CCXLIII:

Swedish deals from ports in the Baltic

1840, John Ramsey McCulloch, “Docks on the Thames (London)”, in A Dictionary Practical, Theoretical and Historical of Commerce and Commercial Navigation, volume 1, Thomas Wardle, page 590:

1 deal (US) = 12 ft x 11 in. x 3/2 in. (E)

2003, François Cardarelli, Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights, and Measures, page 52:

(countable, archaic) A wooden board or plank, usually between 12 or 14 feet in length, traded as a commodity in shipbuilding.


pie

pie (countable and uncountable, plural pies)

→ Bulgarian: пай (paj)

→ Cantonese: 批 (pai¹)

→ Finnish: pai

→ Hebrew: פַּאי

→ Japanese: パイ

desc

→ Kashubian: paja (Canada, United States)

→ Korean: 파이 (pai)

→ Malay: pai

→ Persian: پای (pây)

→ Scottish Gaelic: pàidh

→ Spanish: pay

→ Swedish: paj

→ Tok Pisin: pai

→ Welsh: pei

→ Yiddish: פּײַ (pay)

From Middle English pye, pie, pey, perhaps from Old English *pīe (“pastry”) (compare Old English pīe, pēo (“insect, bug”)), attested in early Middle English piehus (“bakery”, literally “pie-house”) c. 1199. Relation to Medieval Latin pica, pia (“pie, pastry”) is unclear, as there are no similar terms found in any Romance languages; therefore, like Irish pióg (“pie”), the Latin term may have been simply borrowed from the English.
Some sources state the word comes from Latin pīca (“magpie, jay”) (from the idea of the many ingredients put into pies likened to the tendency of magpies to bring a variety of objects back to their nests), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peyk- (“woodpecker; magpie”), though this has its controversies. However, if so, then it is a doublet of pica.

der

The family had steak and kidney pie for dinner and cherry pie for dessert.

SATURNINUS: Go fetch them hither to us presently.
TITUS: Why, there they are, both baked in that pie,
Whereof their mother daintily hath fed,
Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred.

c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

A type of pastry that consists of an outer crust and a filling.

A paper plate covered in cream, shaving foam or custard that is thrown or rubbed in someone’s face for comical purposes, to raise money for charity, or as a form of political protest; a custard pie; a cream pie.

Did fed time outta town pie flipper / Turn Cristal into a crooked-I sipper

1997 January 3, “Can't Nobody Hold Me Down”performed by Sean Combs ft. Mase:

My weed smoke is my lye, a ki of coke is a pie / When I'm lifted I'm high, with new clothes on I'm fly

[1998 October 18, “Ebonics”performed by Big L:

I love the cutie pies, never the zootie pies

1999 July 13, “Discipline”performed by Gang Starr ft. Total:

(slang) A kilogram of drugs, especially cocaine.


pie

From Hindi पाहि (pāhi, “migrant farmer, passer-through”), from Sanskrit पार्श्व (pārśva, “side, vicinity”).

der

(zoology) Ellipsis of pie-dog: an Indian breed, a stray dog in Indian contexts.


pie

From Spanish pie (“foot, Spanish foot”), from Latin pēs (“foot, Roman foot”), from Proto-Indo-European *pṓds. Doublet of foot, pes, and pous.

(historical) A traditional Spanish unit of length, equivalent to about 27.9 cm.


point

en-verb

point (third-person singular simple present points, present participle pointing, simple past and past participle pointed)

points (present singular third-person)
pointing (participle present)
pointed (participle past)
pointed (past)

From Middle English pointen, poynten, from Old French pointier, pointer, poynter, from point from Latin pūnctum.

(transitive, Internet) To direct requests sent to a domain name to the IP address corresponding to that domain name.


picosecond

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10⁻¹² seconds. Symbol: ps


bit

From Middle English bitte, bite, from Old English bita (“bit; fragment; morsel”) and bite (“a bite; cut”), from Proto-Germanic *bitô and *bitiz; both from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to split”). More at bite.
cognates
Cognate with West Frisian bit, Saterland Frisian Bit, Dutch bit, German Low German Beet, Biet, German Biss and Bissen, Danish bid, Swedish bit, Icelandic biti.

der

I trusted to the Lord to be with me; and at one of our trips to St. Eustatia, a Dutch island, I bought a glass tumbler with my half bit, and when I came to Montserrat I sold it for a bit, or sixpence.

1789, Olaudah Equiano, chapter 6, in The Interesting Narrative, volume I:

Applied to a various small units of currency and coins.

(historical) A unit of currency and coin of the British West Indies worth six black dogs, originally equal to one-eighth of a Spanish dollar but later increasingly debased to one tenth, one eleventh, one twelfth, etc.

(historical) A unit of currency of the Dutch West Indies in the early 20th century, worth one fifth of a cent.


bit

Coined by John Tukey in 1946 as an abbreviation of binary digit, probably influenced by connotations of “small portion”. First used in print 1948 by Claude Shannon. Compare byte and nybble, with similar food associations.

(mathematics, computing) A binary digit, generally represented as a 1 or 0.


tenth

From Middle English tenth, tenthe. Old English had tēoþa (origin of Modern English tithe), but the force of analogy to the cardinal number "ten" caused Middle English speakers to recreate the regular ordinal and re-insert the nasal consonant. Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *tehundô. Equivalent to ten (numeral) + -th (suffix forming ordinals).

affix

My dear young lady, here I am for the tenth time.

a. 1776, Joseph Baretti, “Dialogue the Fortieth”, in Easy Phraseology for the Use of Those Persons Who Intend to Learn the Colloquial Part of the Italian Language, 1835 edition, Turin: Joseph Bocca, page 221:

These words are formed by the rusty iron point with which I write with difficulty in scrapings of soot and charcoal from the chimney, mixed with blood, in the last month of the tenth year of my captivity.

1859, Charles Dickens, “The Substance of the Shadow”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book III (The Track of a Storm), page 214:

The ordinal numeral form of ten; next in order after that which is ninth.

dix

abbreviation X;after the name;in names of monarchs and popes


league

en-noun

league (countable and uncountable, plural leagues)

→ Japanese: リーグ (rīgu)

→ Korean: 리그 (rigeu)

From Middle English liege, ligg, lige (“a pact between governments, an agreement, alliance”), from Middle French ligue, from Italian lega, from the verb legare, from Latin ligō (“I tie”).

Are you going to watch the league tonight?

(informal, rugby, uncountable) Ellipsis of rugby league.


second

From Middle English secunde, second, secound, secund, borrowed from Old French second, seond, from Latin secundus (“following, next in order”), from root of sequor (“I follow”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”). Doublet of secund and secundo. Displaced native twoth and partially displaced native other (from Old English ōþer (“other; next; second”)).

noncog

Many packs have a sixer's council where the sixers, and sometimes the seconds, meet with Akela and some of the other leaders.

1995, Boy Scouts of Canada. National Council, The Cub Book:

A Cub Scout appointed to assist the sixer.


second

From Middle English secunde, seconde, borrowed from Old French seconde, from Medieval Latin secunda, short for secunda pars minuta (“second diminished part (of the hour)”).

A unit of time historically and commonly defined as a sixtieth of a minute which the International System of Units more precisely defines as the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of radiation corresponding to the transition between two hyperfine levels of caesium-133 in a ground state at a temperature of absolute zero and at rest.

асекунда

one-sixtieth of a minute; SI unit of time


eighth

From Middle English eiȝtthe, from Old English eahtoþa, from Proto-Germanic *ahtudô.

agste

ordinal form of the number eight — see also 8th

huit

abbreviation VIII;after the name;in names of monarchs and popes


eighth

henry

for an eighth of an ounce of marijuana in the UK

epogdoon

a number greater by a ratio of nine to eight; 1+1⁄8

At midday he’d found an ageing eighth of hash in a drawer, a little bundle of cellophane.

2000, Zadie Smith, White Teeth, London: Penguin Books, published 2001, →ISBN, page 499:

(slang) An eighth of an ounce, or approximately 3.5 grams, of marijuana or other drugs.


quantity

en-noun

quantity (countable and uncountable, plural quantities)

From Middle English quantite, from Old French quantité, from Latin quantitās (“quantity”), from quantus (“how much”).

(metrology) Property of a phenomenon, body, or substance, where the property has a magnitude that can be expressed as number and a reference.


atmosphere

atmosphere (countable and uncountable, plural atmospheres)

/ˈætməsˌfɪɹ/

From French atmosphère, from New Latin atmosphaera, from Ancient Greek ἀτμός (atmós, “steam”) + σφαῖρα (sphaîra, “sphere”); corresponding to atmo- + -sphere.

Atmosphere (disambiguation)
atmosphere
atmosphere (unit)

you could cut the atmosphere with a knife

atmospheric pressure
atmospheric pressure

A unit of measurement for pressure equal to 101325 Pa (symbol: atm), approximately the atmospheric pressure at sea level.


case

→ Swedish: case n

From Middle English cas, from Old French cas (“an event”), from Latin cāsus (“a falling, a fall; accident, event, occurrence; occasion, opportunity; noun case”), perfect passive participle of cadō (“to fall, to drop”).

der

Jane has been studying case in Caucasian languages.  Latin is a language that employs case.

(grammar, uncountable) Grammatical cases and their meanings taken either as a topic in general or within a specific language.


case

From Middle English case, from Old Northern French casse, (compare Old French chasse (“box, chest, case”)), from Latin capsa (“box, bookcase”), from capiō (“to take, seize, hold”). Doublet of cash, chase, and chasse. Compare Spanish caja, Asturian caxa.

(US) A unit of liquid measure used to measure sales in the beverage industry, equivalent to 192 fluid ounces.


drink

en-noun

drink (countable and uncountable, plural drinks)

Tok Pisin: dring

→ Czech: drink

→ Danish: drink

→ Dutch: drink

→ Finnish: drinkki

→ French: drink

→ German: Drink

→ Italian: drink

→ Japanese: ドリンク (dorinku)

→ Polish: drink

→ Portuguese: drinque, drink

→ Swedish: drink

From Middle English drink, drinke (also as drinche, drunch), from Old English drynċ, from Proto-Germanic *drunkiz, *drankiz. Compare Dutch drank.

A drink of wine is about 5 ounces

And when (SUBJECT) was 55, would you say (he/she) drank more than, less than, or about 2 to 3 drinks a day?

1963, Vital and Health Statistics: Programs and collection procedures, page 125:


square

→ Welsh: sgwâr

From Middle English square, sqware, squyre; from Old French esquarre, esquerre, (modern French équerre), from Vulgar Latin *exquadra, from Latin ex- + quadro, from quadrus (compare English quad and quadra). Doublet of squad and squadra.
Displaced fēowerecge (fēower nominative + ecg accusative, as in "four-edged").

(roofing) A unit used in measuring roof area equivalent to 100 square feet (9.29 m²) of roof area. The materials for roofing jobs are often billed by the square in the United States.


hundred

From Middle English hundred, from Old English hundred, from Proto-Germanic *hundaradą, from *hundą (from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm) + *radą (“count”), a neuter variant of *radō (“row, line, series”). Compare West Frisian hûndert, Dutch honderd, Low German hunnert, hunnerd, German Hundert, Danish hundred.

see for numerical forms in other scripts

(historical) An administrative subdivision of southern English counties formerly reckoned as comprising 100 hides (households or families) and notionally equal to 12,000 acres.

carucate (1⁄100 hundred & for smaller divisions)


chain

From Middle English cheyne, chaine, from Old French chaine, chaene (“chain”), from Latin catēna (“chain”), from Proto-Indo-European *kat- (“to braid, twist; hut, shed”). Doublet of catena.

der

a chain is only as strong as its weakest link

That chain of restaurants is expanding into our town.

A series of stores or businesses with the same brand name.

ցանց

We first find an approximation of the chain partition, i.e. a small but not minimum size set of chains which cover all elements of the poset.

2003, Jeremy P. Spinrad, Efficient Graph Representations, American Mathematical Society, page 108:

(mathematics, set theory, order theory) A totally ordered set, especially a totally ordered subset of a poset.


hand

From Middle English hond, hand, from Old English hand, from Proto-West Germanic *handu, from Proto-Germanic *handuz.
See also Dutch and Swedish hand (“hand”), Danish hånd, German Hand, West Frisian hân). Perhaps compare Old Swedish hinna (“to gain”), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰-𐌷𐌹𐌽𐌸𐌰𐌽 (fra-hinþan, “to take captive, capture”); and Latvian sīts (“hunting spear”), Ancient Greek κεντέω (kentéō, “prick”), Albanian çandër (“pitchfork, prop”).

handvol

that which is, or may be, held in a hand at once

hand

set of cards held by a player in a card game

a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

catch someone with a hand in the cookie jar

close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades

give with one hand and take away with the other

one can't hold two watermelons in one hand

talk to the hand 'cause the face ain't listening

the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world

the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world

the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing

Large farms need many farm hands.

But a Dictionary of this ſort, containing, as it were, a Natural Hiſtory, requires too many hands, as well as too much time, coſt, pains, and ſagacity, ever to be hoped for; and till that be done, we muſt content our ſelves with ſuch Definitions of the Names of Subſtances, as explain the ſenſe Men uſe them in.

1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book III, page 259:

For this scene, a large number of supers are engaged, and in order to further swell the crowd, practically all the available stage hands have to ‘walk on’ dressed in various coloured dominoes, and all wearing masks.

1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

(especially in compounds) An agent; a servant, or manual laborer; a workman, trained or competent for special service or duty.

matroos

servant, laborer, workman, trained for special duty; a performer


hand

en-verb

hand (third-person singular simple present hands, present participle handing, simple past and past participle handed)

hands (present singular third-person)
handing (participle present)
handed (participle past)
handed (past)

From Middle English handen, honden, from the noun (see above); and also from henden (> English hend), from Old English *hendan, ġehendan (“to seize by hand, grasp, hold”), from Proto-West Germanic *handijan, from Proto-Germanic *handijaną (“to take by hand, grasp”), from the noun (see above). Cognate with Old Frisian handa, henda (“to grasp, seize”), Middle Low German handen, henden (in derivatives), Dutch handen, henden (“to arrange, dispose, be handy”), Dutch overhandigen (“to hand, hand over”), Middle High German handen (“to cut, hew”), Middle High German henden (“to give hands to; take hold of, seize”), Old Norse henda (“to grasp, seize, take by hand”).

cog

wee will not hand a rope more

1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

(transitive, obsolete) To seize; to lay hands on.


gray

Named after English physicist Louis Harold Gray (1905–1965).

named-after

Coordinate term: rad

International System of Units
International System of Units

In the International System of Units, the derived unit of absorbed dose of radiation (radiation absorbed by a patient); one joule of energy absorbed per kilogram of the patient's mass. Symbol: Gy


bucket

→ Farefare: bɔgtɛ

→ Japanese: バケツ (baketsu)

→ Maori: pākete

From Middle English buket, boket, partly from Old English bucc ("bucket, pitcher"; mod. dialectal buck), equivalent to bouk + -et; and partly from Anglo-Norman buket, buquet (“tub; pail”) (compare Norman boutchet, Norman bouquet), diminutive of Old French buc (“abdomen; object with a cavity”), from Vulgar Latin *būcus (compare Occitan and Catalan buc, Italian buco, buca (“hole, gap”)), from Frankish *būk (“belly, stomach”). Both the Old English and Frankish terms derive from Proto-Germanic *būkaz (“belly, stomach”). More at bouk.

gloss

"bucket, pitcher"; mod. dialectal <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">buck</i>

der

Avoid bulky styles such as duffle sacks, buckets, doctors' satchels, and hobos.

1989, Susan Ludwig, Janice Steinberg, Petite Style, page 46:


acre

en-noun

acre (plural acres or (UK colloquial) acre)

acres (plural)
acre (UK colloquial plural)

→ Irish: acra

→ Norwegian Bokmål: acre

→ Malay: ekar

→ Telugu: ఎకరా (ekarā), ఎకరము (ekaramu)

From Middle English acre, aker, from Old English æcer (“field where crops are grown”), from Proto-West Germanic *akr, from Proto-Germanic *akraz (“field”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵros (“field”).
Cognate with Scots acre, aker, acker (“acre, field, arable land”), North Frisian ecir (“field, a measure of land”), West Frisian eker (“field”), Dutch akker (“field”), German Acker (“field, acre”), Norwegian åker (“field”) and Swedish åker (“field”), Icelandic akur (“field”), Latin ager (“land, field, acre, countryside”), Ancient Greek ἀγρός (agrós, “field”), Sanskrit अज्र (ájra, “field, plain”).

carucate

the area able to be plowed by 8 oxen in a year

virgate

the area able to be plowed by two oxen in a year

oxgang

the area able to be plowed by an ox in a year

nook

the area able to be plowed by an ox in half a season

fardel

the area able to be plowed by an ox in 1⁄4 a season

(informal, usually in the plural) A large quantity.


us

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *n̥smé
Proto-Germanic *uns
Old English ūs
Middle English us
English us
From Middle English us, from Old English ūs (“us”, dative personal pronoun), from Proto-Germanic *uns (“us”), from Proto-Indo-European *ne-, *nō-, *n-ge-, *n̥smé (“us”). The compensatory lengthening was lost in Middle English due to the word being unstressed while being used. Cognate with Saterland Frisian uus (“us”), West Frisian us, ús (“us”), Low German us (“us”), Dutch ons (“us”), German uns (“us”), Danish os (“us”), Latin nōs (“we, us”).

inh

my very educated mother just served us nachos

my very educated mother just served us nine pizzas

my very educated mother just served us nine pumpkins

my very educated mother just served us noodles

my very excellent mother just served us nine pizzas

Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us...

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 1:1:

Who's there? —Us. (or) —It's us.
Who's going to go? —Us. We'll go.

Used where "me" would be used instead of "I", e.g. for the pronoun in isolation or as the complement of the copula

(personal) Me and at least one other person; the objective case of we.

Give us a look at your paper.

Give us your wallet!

She's turned the weans against us!

(Commonwealth, colloquial, chiefly with give) Me.

Look at us while you’re speaking to us.

Could you do that for us?


us

It's not good enough for us teachers.

The speakers/writers, or the speaker/writer and at least one other person.


us

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.


bel

A measure of relative power, defined as log₁₀(P ₁/P ₂), where P₁ and P₂ are the measured and reference power respectively.


pam

From Spanish palmo (“handspan”), from Latin palmus. Doublet of palm, palma, and palmo.

(historical, dated) Alternative form of palmo (“traditional Spanish and Portuguese units of measure”).


angel

Jamaican Creole: ienjel

→ Chinese: 安琪兒／安琪儿 (ānqí'ér)

→ Hawaiian: ʻānela

→ Lingala: anjelu, anzelu

→ Malagasy: anjely

Florence Baptistery
Seven churches of Asia
en:Angel (disambiguation)
en:angel

Two Baroque angels from southern Germany, from the mid-18th century
From Middle English angel, aungel, ængel, engel, from Old English anġel, ænġel, enġel, enċġel (“angel, messenger”), from Proto-West Germanic *angil, borrowed from Latin angelus, itself from Ancient Greek ἄγγελος (ángelos, “messenger”); and also in part from Anglo-Norman angele, angle, from the same Latin source. The religious sense of the Greek word first appeared in the Septuagint as a translation of the Hebrew word מַלְאָךְ (malʾāḵ, “messenger”) or יהוה מַלְאָךְ (malʾāḵ YHWH, “messenger of YHWH”).
Use of the term in some churches to refer to a church official derives from interpreting the "angels" of the Seven churches of Asia in Revelation as being bishops or ministers rather than angelic beings.

der

don't drive faster than your guardian angel can fly

(historical) An English gold coin, bearing the figure of the archangel Michael, circulated between the 15th and 17th centuries, and varying in value from six shillings and eightpence to ten shillings.

Climb to angels sixty. ― ascend to 60,000 feet

And even now part of me flies over Dresden at angels one five; / Though they’ll never fathom it, behind my sarcasm desperate memories lie.

1983 March 21, Roger Waters (lyrics and music), “The Hero’s Return”, in The Final Cut, performed by Pink Floyd:

(military slang, originally Royal Air Force) An altitude, measured in thousands of feet.

unidentified flying object
unidentified flying object

(colloquial, dated) An unidentified flying object detected by air traffic control radar.

“Latent” angels are defined as those who have not invested capital in the past 12 months, although they likely have invested knowledge in the process of reviewing potential investments.

2011, OECD, Financing High-Growth Firms: The Role of Angel Investors:

someone that funds
(finance) An angel investor.


angel

(informal) A person who has Angelman syndrome.


palm

→ Malay: palma, ڤلما

From Middle English palme, from Old English palm, palma (“palm-tree, palm-branch”), from Latin palma (“palm-tree, palm-branch, palm of the hand”), from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₂meh₂, *pl̥h₂emeh₂ (“palm of the hand”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat”). Cognate with Dutch palm, German Palme, Danish palme, Icelandic pálmur (“palm”).

(scouting) Any of 23 awards that can be earned after obtaining the Eagle Scout rank, but generally only before turning 18 years old.


foot

en-noun

foot (plural feet or (UK colloquial, unit of measure) foot)

→ Assamese: ফুট (phut)

q

from <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">feet</i>

→ Japanese: フット (futto), フート (fūto); フィート (fīto) (from feet)

→ Russian: фут (fut)

Sranan Tongo: futu

Aukan: futu

Saramaccan: fútu

→ Swahili: futi

→ Thai: ฟุต (fút)

Tok Pisin: fut, put

→ Urdu: فٹ (fuṭ)

→ Phalura: fuṭ

From Middle English fot, fote, foot, from Old English fōt, from Proto-West Germanic *fōt, from Proto-Germanic *fōts, from Proto-Indo-European *pṓds. Doublet of pes, pie (“Spanish unit of length”), and pous.

doublet

not touch something with a ten-foot pole

you cannot put the same shoe on every foot

A unit of measure equal to twelve inches or one third of a yard, equal to exactly 30.48 centimetres.

(informal) Ellipsis of square foot. A unit of area.

(informal) Ellipsis of cubic foot. A unit of volume.

(music) A unit of measure for organ pipes equal to the wavelength of two octaves above middle C, approximately 328 mm.

King John went to battle with ten thousand foot and one thousand horse.

His forces, after all the high discourses, amounted really but to eighteen hundred foot.

1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:

(collective, military) Foot soldiers; infantry.


rod

From Middle English rodde, from Old English *rodd or *rodde (attested in dative plural roddum (“rod, pole”)), of uncertain origin, but probably from Proto-Germanic *rudd- (“stick, club”), from Proto-Indo-European *rewdʰ- (“to clear land”). Compare Old Norse rudda (“club”). For the root, compare English rid. Presumably unrelated to Proto-Germanic *rōdō (“rod, pole”).


hide

From Middle English hide, from Old English hīd, hȳd, hīġed, hīġid (“a measure of land”), for earlier *hīwid (“the amount of land needed to support one family”), a derivative of Proto-Germanic *hīwaz, *hīwō (“relative, fellow-lodger, family”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- (“to lie with, store, be familiar”). Related to Old English hīwisc (“hide of land, household”), Old English hīwan (“members of a family, household”). More at hewe, hind.

cog

The exact size of hides varied with soil quality, but each one generally encompassed 24 to 26 hectares.

2016, Peter H. Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire, Penguin, published 2017, page 488:

(historical) A unit of land and tax assessment of varying size, originally as intended to support one household with dependents.


button

→ German: Button

→ Hindi: बटन (baṭan)

→ Gujarati: બટન (baṭan)

→ Korean: 버튼 (beoteun)

→ Maori: pātene

→ Marathi: बटण (baṭaṇ)

→ Urdu: بٹن (baṭan)

From Middle English boton, botoun, from Old French boton (Modern French bouton), from Old French bouter, boter (“to push; thrust”), ultimately from a Germanic language. Doublet of Biden and beat. More at butt.

(curling) The center (bullseye) of the house.

In attempting to touch down on the button of the runway, he misjudged his altitude and struck a pile of rocks short of the runway. The right wheel was torn off and the gear leg bent backwards.

1984, Synopses of Aircraft Accidents: Civil Aircraft in Canada, page 42:

The second and slightly higher aircraft on the approach showed no reaction to this barrage of pyrotechnics and continued blissfully down toward the button of the runway.

1999, Les Morrison, Of Luck and War, page 69:

(dated, Southern US) A clove (of garlic).


spat

en-verb

spat (third-person singular simple present spats, present participle spatting, simple past and past participle spatted)

spats (present singular third-person)
spatting (participle present)
spatted (participle past)
spatted (past)

Little Isabel leaped up and down, spatting her hands.

(US, dialect) To slap, as with the open hand; to clap together, as the hands.


nit

This brightness of this LCD screen is between 900 and 1000 nits.


bag

→ Japanese: バッグ

→ Korean: 백 (baek)

→ Norwegian: bag

From Middle English bagge, from Old Norse baggi (“bag, pack, satchel, bundle”) (whence also Old French bague (“bundle, package, sack”)); related to Old Norse bǫggr (“harm, shame; load, burden”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰak- (compare Welsh baich (“load, bundle”), Ancient Greek βάσταγμα (bástagma, “load”)).

cog

(UK) A unit of measure of cement equal to 94 pounds.


bag

en-verb

bag (third-person singular simple present bags, present participle bagging, simple past and past participle bagged)

bags (present singular third-person)
bagging (participle present)
bagged (participle past)
bagged (past)

(transitive) To furnish or load with a bag.

(transitive, medicine) To provide with artificial ventilation via a bag valve mask (BVM) resuscitator.

To expose exterior shape or physical behaviour resembling that of a bag

(nautical, intransitive) To drop away from the correct course.


float

float (third-person singular simple present floats, present participle floating, simple past and past participle floated)

floats (present singular third-person)
floating (participle present)
floated (participle past)
floated (past)

From Middle English floten, from Old English flotian (“to float”), from Proto-West Germanic *flotōn, from Proto-Germanic *flutōną (“to float”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewd-, *plew- (“to float, swim, fly”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian flotje (“to float”), West Frisian flotsje (“to float”), Dutch vlotten (“to float”), Middle Low German vloten, vlotten (“to float, swim”), German flötzen, flößen (“to float”), Swedish flotta (“to float”), Icelandic fljóta, Old English flēotan (“to float, swim”), Ancient Greek πλέω (pléō), Lithuanian plaukti, Russian пла́вать (plávatʹ). Compare flow, fleet.

ভাসানো

to cause something to be suspended in a liquid of greater density

(intransitive, aviation) To remain airborne, without touching down, for an excessive length of time during landing, due to excessive airspeed during the landing flare.

leijua

aviation: to remain airborne for an excessive length of time during landing


float

sierwa

trailer or vehicle decorated for a parade


brass

From Portuguese braça and Spanish braza, from Old Galician-Portuguese and Old Spanish braça, from Latin brachia, variant of bracchium (“arm, cubit”), from Ancient Greek βραχίων (brakhíōn, “upper arm”).

der

(historical, obsolete) Synonym of brace, a traditional unit of measure equivalent to a fathom (6 feet) or about 1.6 m, especially as the Spanish braza and Portuguese braça, also French brasse.


meter

en-noun

meter (countable and uncountable, plural meters)

Senses 1.1, 2, and 3 were borrowed from French mètre and Latin metrum; see metre for more.
Sense 1.2 is a noun derived from mete, from Old English metan (“to measure, mark off”), possibly influencing the other meanings.

inh

(American spelling) Alternative form of metre


henry

Named after the American scientist Joseph Henry.

electrical inductance
electrical inductance

In the International System of Units, the derived unit of electrical inductance; the inductance induced in a circuit by a rate of change of current of one ampere per second and a resulting electromotive force of one volt. Symbol: H


conge

From French conge, from Latin congius. Only attested in English in the obsolete plural form congys.

(historical, obsolete) Alternative form of congy, congius, ancient Roman units of liquid measure and mass.


t

head

t (lower case, upper case T, plural ts or t's)

The twentieth letter of the English alphabet, called tee and written in the Latin script.


t

The ordinal number twentieth, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called tee and written in the Latin script.


t

Abbreviations.
t
# (stenoscript) Abbreviation of at
# (stenoscript) Abbreviation of to and homophone too.

ng

and homophone <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">too</i>.

(UK) Alternative letter-case form of T, tonne.


mole

Calqued from German Mol; spelled as if it had come directly from molecule or Latin moles (the ultimate source of Mol and molecule in any event).

(chemistry, physics) In the International System of Units, the base unit of amount of substance; the amount of substance of a system which contains exactly 6.02214076×10²³ elementary entities (atoms, ions, molecules, etc.). Symbol: mol. The number of atoms is known as Avogadro’s number. [from 1897]


gram

From French gramme, from Ancient Greek γράμμα (grámma, “a small weight, a scruple”). Doublet of gramma.

der

A unit of mass equal to one-thousandth of a kilogram. Symbol: g.


s

Abbreviations.
s
# (stenoscript) the sound /s/ in a word.
#: (an orthographic ⟨s⟩ pronounced /z/ is transcribed z)
# (stenoscript) Abbreviation of us.
# (stenoscript) Abbreviation of saw.
# (stenoscript) the prefix or initial syllable sub-
#: (some manuals advise capital S for the prefix sub-)

(metrology) Abbreviation of scruple. (unit of mass in the apothecaries' system)


pipe

→ Bengali: পাইপ (paip)

desc

→ Gulf Arabic: پيپ (pēp, bēb, “smoking pipe”), پايپ (pāyp, bāyb, “medium of transportation (sense 2.1)”)

→ Hindi: पाइप (pāip)

→ Japanese: パイプ (paipu)

→ Korean: 파이프 (paipeu)

→ Malay: paip

→ Maori: paipa

→ Russian: пайп (pajp)

→ Urak Lawoi': ปาเฮะ (pahëq)

From Middle English pīpe, pype (“hollow cylinder or tube used as a conduit or container; duct or vessel of the body; musical instrument; financial records maintained by the English Exchequer, pipe roll”), from Old English pīpe (“pipe (musical instrument); the channel of a small stream”), from Proto-West Germanic *pīpā. Reinforced by Vulgar Latin *pīpa, from Latin pipire, pipiare, pipare, from pīpiō (“to chirp, peep”), of imitative origin. Doublet of fife.
The “storage container” and “liquid measure” senses are derived from Middle English pīpe (“large storage receptacle, particularly for wine; cask, vat; measure of volume”), from pīpe (above) and Old French pipe (“liquid measure”). In specific contexts, calques similar units of measure such as Portuguese pipa.
The verb is from Middle English pīpen, pypyn (“to play a pipe; to make a shrill sound; to speak with a high-pitched tone”), from Old English pīpian (“to pipe”).

onomatopoeic

imitative

inh

Again, by 28 Hen. VIII, cap. 14, it is re-enacted that the tun of wine should contain 252 gallons, a butt of Malmsey 126 gallons, a pipe 126 gallons, a tercian or puncheon 84 gallons, a hogshead 63 gallons, a tierce 41 gallons, a barrel 31½ gallons, a rundlet 18½ gallons.

1882, James E[dwin] Thorold Rogers, “Weights and Measures”, in A History of Agriculture and Prices in England from the Year after the Oxford Parliament (1259) to the Commencement of the Continental War (1793) […], volumes IV (1401–1582), Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 205:

The contents of such a vessel, as a liquid measure, sometimes set at 126 wine gallons; half a tun.

thùng

contents of such a vessel as a liquid measure


stone

en-verb

stone (third-person singular simple present stones, present participle stoning, simple past and past participle stoned)

stones (present singular third-person)
stoning (participle present)
stoned (participle past)
stoned (past)

From Middle English ston, stone, stan, from Old English stān, from Proto-West Germanic *stain, from Proto-Germanic *stainaz, from Proto-Indo-European *steyh₂- (“to stiffen”).
See also West Frisian stien, Saterland Frisian Steen, Dutch steen, German Stein, Danish and Swedish sten, Norwegian stein; also Russian стена́ (stená, “wall”), Ancient Greek στία (stía, “pebble”), στέαρ (stéar, “tallow”), Albanian shtëng (“hardened or pressed matter”), Sanskrit स्त्यायते (styāyate, “it hardens”)). Doublet of stein.

cog

I was stoning the whole of today.

2003, Roger, Joy, Vera and Amanda Loh, Facts about Singapore: Differences between Ohio and Singapore:

Resume writing class lesson 2, stoning.

2011 November 2, Shermaine Ong, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

The Marina Barrage is a reservoir, but everyone goes there because the spacious greenery at the top is the perfect place for stoning, which is Singlish for hanging out and chilling.

2015 April 8, Becky Osawa, Trekking with Becky: Stoning at the Marina Barrage, Singapore:

(intransitive, Singapore, slang) To do nothing, to stare blankly into space and not pay attention when relaxing or when bored.


bath

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁-
Proto-Germanic *baþą
Proto-West Germanic *baþ
Old English bæþ
Middle English bath
English bath
From Middle English bath, baþ, from Old English bæþ (“bath”), from Proto-West Germanic *baþ, from Proto-Germanic *baþą (“bath”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- (“to warm”). Corresponding inherited verbs are beath and bathe.

etymon

barf (non-rhotic, trap–bath split, th-fronting)

Among the ancients, the public baths were of amazing extent and magnificence.

1842, Joseph Gwilt, Encyclopaedia of Architecture:

A building or area where bathing occurs.

The master bath has two sinks.

(real estate, informal) Clipping of bathroom.


bath

Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of an homer, and the ephah the tenth part of an homer: the measure thereof shall be after the homer.

(historical units of measure) A former Hebrew unit of liquid volume (about 23 L or 6 gallons).


cord

en-noun

cord (countable and uncountable, plural cords)

From Middle English corde, from Old French corde, from Latin chorda, from Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “string of gut, the string of a lyre”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (“bowels, intestines”)). More at yarn and hernia.

der

Unerringly impelling this dead, impregnable, uninjurable wall, and this most buoyant thing within; there swims behind it all a mass of tremendous life, only to be adequately estimated as piled wood is—by the cord; and all obedient to one volition, as the smallest insect.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Battering-ram”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 376:

"If they buy three cords of birch logs," said the witch, "but they must be exact measure and no bargaining about the price, and if they throw overboard the one cord of logs, piece by piece, when the first sea comes, and the other cord, piece by piece, when the second sea comes, and the third cord, piece by piece, when the third sea comes, then it's all over with us."

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Braekstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 187:

A unit of measurement for firewood, equal to 128 cubic feet (4 × 4 × 8 feet), composed of logs and/or split logs four feet long and none over eight inches diameter. It is usually seen as a stack four feet high by eight feet long.


decameter

Borrowed from French décamètre. Equivalent to deca- + meter.


hectometre

(metrology) An SI unit of length equal to 10² metres. Symbol: hm


decimetre

Borrowed from French décimètre. By surface analysis, deci- + metre.

If the aquarium is placed where it receives insufficient daylight, artificial lighting by means of ordinary incandescent lamps should be employed. For good plant growth 2 decalumens of luminous flux per square decimetre of water surface […]

1956, C. van Duijn, Diseases of Fishes, page 149:

(metrology) An SI unit of length equal to 10⁻¹ metres. Symbol: dm


millimetre

An SI/MKS unit of measure, the length of ¹⁄₁₀₀₀ of a metre. Symbol: mm


centimetre

Borrowed from French centimètre; equivalent to centi- + metre.

(British spelling, Canadian spelling) (metrology) An SI unit of length equal to 10⁻² metres. Symbol: cm


decimeter

Borrowed from French décimètre. Equivalent to deci- + meter.


centimeter

(American spelling) (Canadian spelling, alternative) Alternative form of centimetre


millimeter

From French millimètre, as if milli- + meter.


megameter

/mɛˈɡɐˌmɪtə/

/mɛˈɡɐˌmɪtəɹ/

[mɛˈɡɐˌmɪɾɚ]


micrometre

An SI/MKS unit of measure, the length of one millionth of a metre. Symbol: µm, um, rm


decametre

Borrowed from French décamètre. Equivalent to deca- + metre.

(metrology) An SI unit of length equal to 10¹ metres. Symbol: dam


milligram

(metrology) An SI unit of mass equal to 10⁻³ grams. Symbol: mg


decibel

A common measure of sound intensity ratio that is one tenth of a bel on the logarithmic intensity scale. It is defined as dB = ⅒log₁₀(P₁ / P₂), where P₁ and P₂ are the relative powers of the sound.


kilometre

/kɪˈlɔmɪtəɹ/

From French kilomètre, from Ancient Greek χίλιοι (khílioi, “thousand”) + μέτρον (métron, “measure”); equivalent to kilo- + metre.

(metrology) An SI unit of length equal to 10³ metres. Symbol: km


millilitre

(British spelling) A unit of measure of capacity, being one thousandth of a litre. Symbol: ml


milliliter

(American spelling) Alternative form of millilitre


metre

Tok Pisin: mita

→ Burmese: မီတာ (mita)

→ Chinese: 米突 (mǐtū, mǐtú)

→ Japanese: メーター (mētā)

→ Korean: 미터 (miteo) (South Korea), 메터 (meteo) (North Korea, China)

→ Maori: mita

→ Swahili: mita

→ Yoruba: mítà

From French mètre, from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure, rule, length, size, poetic metre”). Doublet of meter, metron, and mether.

The measures of length above the metre are ten times ... greater than the metre.

1797, The Monthly magazine and British register, number 3:

A dress length of 8 metres of the best quality costs 58 francs.

The 12-metre yachts ... can be sailed efficiently with four paid hands.

The basic unit of length in the International System of Units (SI: Système International d'Unités), equal to the distance travelled by light in a vacuum in 1/299 792 458 seconds. The metre is equal to 39+⁴⁷⁄₁₂₇ (approximately 39.37) imperial inches.


mile

en-noun

mile (plural miles or (UK colloquial) mile)

miles (plural)
mile (UK colloquial plural)

From Middle English myle, mile, from Old English mīl, from Proto-West Germanic *mīliju, a borrowing of Latin mīlia, mīllia, plural of mīle, mīlle (“mile”) (literally ‘thousand’ but used as a short form of mīlle passūs (“a thousand paces”)).

a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

give someone an inch and someone will take a mile

give them an inch and they'll take a mile

Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. No omnibus, cab, or conveyance ever built could contain a young man in such a rage. His mother lived at Pembridge Square, which is four good measured miles from Lincoln's Inn.

1892, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate: A Novel, page 16:

Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house ; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something ; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.

1922, Michael Arlen, “3/19/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:

From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much.[…] But viewed from high up in one of the growing number of skyscrapers in Sri Lanka’s capital, it is clear that something extraordinary is happening: China is creating a shipping hub just 200 miles from India’s southern tip.

2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:

Any of several customary units of length derived from the 1593 English statute mile of 8 furlongs, equivalent to 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards of various precise values.


kilo

The San Juan market is Mexico City's most famous deli of exotic meats, where an adventurous shopper can hunt down hard-to-find critters […]. But the priciest items in the market aren't the armadillo steaks or even the bluefin tuna. That would be the frozen chicatanas – giant winged ants – at around $500 a kilo.

2013 July 26, Nick Miroff, “Mexico gets a taste for eating insects […] ”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 32:


line

→ Scottish Gaelic: loidhne

From Middle English line, lyne, from Old English līne (“line, cable, rope, hawser, series, row, rule, direction”), from Proto-West Germanic *līnā, from Proto-Germanic *līnǭ (“line, rope, flaxen cord, thread”), from Proto-Germanic *līną (“flax, linen”), from Proto-Indo-European *līno- (“flax”).
Influenced in Middle English by Middle French ligne (“line”), from Latin linea. More at linen.
The oldest sense of the word is “rope, cord, thread”; from this the senses “path”, “continuous mark” were derived.

lyn

path through two or more points, threadlike mark

lyn

single horizontal row of text on a screen, printed paper, etc.

linja

measure of length, the main division of an inch or its local equivalent

Any of an ill-defined set of units of length, varying according to the country, discipline, industry, and date of application, commonly with no indication of the intended magnitude:

(historical) A tsarist-era Russian unit of measure, approximately equal to one tenth of an English inch, used especially when measuring the calibre of firearms.

(baseball, slang, 1800s, with "the") The batter's box.


em

Attested since 1808. In typography, the em is named after the em quadrat (later called em quad), from m quadrat, a metal type used in letterpress typesetting, which is as wide as the point size of the font.

(typography) A unit of measurement equal to the height of the type in use.


em

head

em (third-person singular, gender-neutral, objective case, reflexive emself, possessive adjective eir, possessive pronoun eirs)

en-pron

emself (reflexive)
eir (adjective possessive)
eirs (possessive pronoun without-noun)

Coined by Christine M. Elverson by removing the "th" from them, perhaps influenced by the pre-existing em/'em, now often perceived as apheretic forms of them (though originally unrelated).

If the author uses such notation, it should be up to Em to indicate Eir intentions clearly, but there’s no harm checking first.

1986 April 1, Michael Spivak, The Joy of TeX: A Gourmet Guide to Typesetting with the AMS-TeX macro package, Providence: American Mathematical Society, →ISBN, →LCCN, LCC Z253.4.T47 S673 1986, page 68:

I may become quite intimate with someone, spend hours with em every night, and yet not have the slightest idea what eir voice sounds like, or what eir RL body looks, feels, and smells like.

1997, Steven Shaviro, Doom Patrols : A Theoretical Fiction About Postmodernism, London: Serpent's Tail, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 138:

E invites em to consider how ey represent emselves^([sic]), and in so doing, e focuses eir attention on the ethics that make human relations possible.

2000, Jane Love, “Ethics, Plugged and Unplugged: The Pegagogy of Disorderly Conduct”, in James A. Inman, Donna N. Sewell, editors, Taking flight with OWLs: Examining Electronic Writing Center Work, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, LCC PE1414.T24 1999, page 193:

And ultimately: I think my readers are mature enough that knowing eir assigned gender is not going to give them an “excuse” to misgender em.

2011 March 15, RJ Edwards, “89: New Friend”, in Riot Nrrd, retrieved 2012-10-06:

“You idiot girl! Are you childsick?” She grabbed Asu’s wrist; Asu made no effort to twist away. “Sand and soil, tell me you’re not pregnant. Is it that—what’s eir name? Aeran? Have you lain with em? Tell me!”

2023, Aimee Ogden, “A Half-Remembered World”, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, vol. 145, no. 1-2, whole no. 768 (July/August 2023), pages 146-202

(rare, nonstandard) A gender-neutral third-person singular object pronoun, the objective case of ey or e, equivalent to the singular them and coordinate with him and her.


em

She was abused by, em... David, I think. That was his name, he's a real em... what's the word, narcissist. You should really stay away from him.

(Scotland, Ireland) a form of hesitant speech, or an expression of uncertainty; um; umm; erm


em

Unspecified script
Appendix:Unspecified script#English

The name of the Unspecified script letter М / м.


gramme

(UK) Dated spelling of gram. (unit of mass)


centigram

/ˈsɛntɪˌɡɹæm/

From French centigramme; equivalent to centi- + gram.

(metrology) An SI unit of mass equal to 10⁻² grams. Symbol: cg


decigram

(metrology) An SI unit of mass equal to 10⁻¹ grams. Symbol: dg


decagram

(metrology) An SI unit of mass equal to 10¹ grams. Symbol: dag


pint

From Middle English pinte, from Old French pinte, assumed from Vulgar Latin *pincta (“a mark used to indicate a level of quantity against a larger measure”), from Latin picta (“painted”), from Latin pingō (“paint”, verb). Doublet of pinto and Pinto.

halstuoppi

closest equivalent in traditional Finnish units

(UK, Commonwealth) 20 fluid ounces, approximately 568 millilitres (an imperial pint).

16 US fluid ounces [473 millilitres] for liquids (a US liquid pint) or

approximately 33.6 cubic inches [550.6 cubic centimeters] for dry goods (a US dry pint).

The prices of the second class are given by the ounce; thus […] for a pint, of 12 ounces;

1822, The Monthly Gazette of Health, page 832:

As a good illustration, this work shows that it is possible to fill 12-ounce pints for carry-out trade. This leads the ice cream manufacturers to feel that a large part of the trouble encountered comes from merchandising.

[…] a 12-ounce pint of laudanum every five days, or about 1,000 drops a day. The story of Coleridge's opium addiction is further confused by his habit of referring to laudanum as a stimulant.

1968, Alethea Hayter, Opium and the Romantic Imagination, Univ of California Press, page 194:

... 12 - ounce pints of beer or ale may be substituted . Visitors under 16 cannot legally bring in tobacco . The liquor allowance does not apply to minors below the age limit prevailing in the province you are entering . Apart from these[…]

1973, Ted Kosoy, A Guide for Travellers in Canada:

Forget quarts and 12-ounce "pints". Given the amounts of Pepsi and 7-up , 3.2 beer and California wine, tequila and sour mash we consume, it won't be long before we learn our capacities in this new language.

1975, American Metric Journal, numbers 3-4, page 36:

4 medium scoops coffee ice cream (about 1 pint/12 ounces/340 grams), softened until just melty at the edges

2012 June 25, Adam Ried, Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes: 100 Thick and Creamy Shakes You Can Make At Home: 100 Classic and Contemporary Recipes, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN:

(formerly medicine, now chiefly some US bars and ice cream sellers) 12 fluid ounces.

A unit of volume, equivalent to:
12 fluid ounces.

formerly medicine; now chiefly some US bars and ice cream sellers; formerly medicine; now chiefly some US bars and ice cream sellers


inch

en-verb

inch (third-person singular simple present inches, present participle inching, simple past and past participle inched)

inches (present singular third-person)
inching (participle present)
inched (participle past)
inched (past)

From Middle English ynche, enche, from Old English ynċe, borrowed from Latin uncia (“Roman inch, various similar units”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *óynos (“one”). Cognate with Middle Dutch enke (“thumb, thumb's width, inch”). Doublet of ounce, uncia, onça, onza, oka, ouguiya, and awqiyyah.

doublet

He gets too far into the soldier's grace / And inches out my master.

1692, John Dryden, Cleomenes, the Spartan Hero, a Tragedy:

To deal out by inches; to give sparingly.


inch

Semantic loan from Cantonese 寸 (cyun³, “inch”), which is an alternative form of 串 (cyun³, “cocky; to provoke; etc.”).

sl

Sorry for changing the intention of the post last time; it was for nothing but the personal joy and satisfaction of "inch"-ing the person who criticized my writing while he/she can't even write. (no hard feelings, alright?!) I'd avoid that in the future. I'll try to make this a constructive discussion and be as objective as possible.

1994 March 4, tp...@vmsb.is.csupomona.edu, soc.culture.hongkong.entertainment (Usenet):

(Hong Kong, colloquial) to burn (to insult); to speak in a cocky and cheeky manner


acetabulum

en-noun

acetabulum (plural acetabulums or acetabula)

Learned borrowing from Latin acētābulum (“vinegar saucer, 1/48 congius”), from acētum (“vinegar”) + -bulum (“-bule: a vessel for”).

lbor

(historical) A Roman unit of liquid measure reckoned as the volume of 2½ Roman ounces of wine and equivalent to about 66 mL although differing slightly over time.

congius (48 acetabula) urna (192 acetabula)


degree

From Middle English degre, borrowed from Old French degré (French: degré), itself from Latin gradus, with the prefix de-.

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 26. Degree

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 31. Greatness

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 32. Smallness

She has two bachelor's degrees and is studying towards a master's degree.

A stage of proficiency or qualification in a course of study, now especially an award bestowed by a university or, in some countries, a college, as a certification of academic achievement. (In the United States, can include secondary schools.)


pot

en-verb

pot (third-person singular simple present pots, present participle potting, simple past and past participle potted)

pots (present singular third-person)
potting (participle present)
potted (participle past)
potted (past)

From Middle English pot, potte, from Old English pott (“pot”) and Old French pot (“pot”) (probably from Frankish *pott); both Old English and Frankish from Proto-Germanic *puttaz (“pot”), from Proto-Indo-European *budnós (“a type of vessel”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Pot (“pot”), Dutch pot (“pot”), German Low German Pott (“pot”), German Pott (“pot”), Swedish potta (“chamber pot”), Icelandic pottur (“tub, pot”), Old Armenian պոյտն (poytn, “pot, earthen pot”). Also, Old Norse pottr (“pot, tub, basin”).
The sense of ruin or deterioration was originally a general allusion to "being chopped up and tossed in a (normally fiery) pot, like a piece of meat" (i.e. to get wasted or done with (by someone)). The 'clean' slang term which was used in reference to toilet rooms and lavatories apparently derives from English chamberpots, although now usually encountered as potty in the context of children's toilet training.

cog

Ideally the best Ideally the best way of tackling the problem of toilet training, is to 'pot' your child at set intervals when he is at home, even though he may no longer be a baby, thus establishing a regular routine instead of one at odd intervals.

1975, Nancie R. Finnie, Handling the Young Cerebral Palsied Child, →ISBN, page 75:

If you leave out this “catching" stage altogether and start proper toilet training at, say, eighteen months you will only have to pot your baby about 2000 times for the same effect.

1978, Penelope Leach, Your Baby & Child from Birth to Age Five, →ISBN, page 225:

Do not make the mistake of potting your baby as early as possible, but wait until she gives the signal that she is aware that puddles are somehow to do with her.

2004, Joan Gomez, Coping with Incontinence, →ISBN, page 33:

Of course, if at any stage your child takes a violent dislike to the pot, then I would put it away for a few weeks and then try again, but if the pot is very comfortable, your attitude is calm and you don't over-pot your child (put him on the pot too often or talk about the pot too much), this shouldn't happen.

2012, Nanny Smith, Nina Grunfeld, Nanny Knows Best: Successful Potty Training, →ISBN:

(transitive, British) To seat a person, usually a young child, on a potty or toilet, typically during toilet teaching.


pun

en-verb

pun (third-person singular simple present puns, present participle punning, simple past and past participle punned)

puns (present singular third-person)
punning (participle present)
punned (participle past)
punned (past)

From Middle English ponnen, ponen, punen, from Old English punian, pūnian (“to pound, beat, bray, bruise, crush, grind”), from Proto-Germanic *punōną (“to break to pieces, pulverize”). See pound. As a kind of word play, from the notion of "beating" the words into place.

der

He would pun thee into shivers with his fist.

c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

(transitive, obsolete) To beat; strike with force; to ram; to pound, as in a mortar; reduce to powder, to pulverize.

We punned about the topic until all around us groaned.

(intransitive) To make or tell a pun; to make a play on words.


pun

The pun is the lowest form of wit.

"Certainly, my home at my uncle's brought me acquainted with a circle of admirals. Of Rears, and Vices, I saw enough. Now do not be suspecting me of a pun, I entreat."

1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter VI, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 124:

A joke or type of wordplay in which similar definitions or sounds of two words or phrases, or different definitions of the same word, are deliberately confused.

駄洒落

ダジャレ, だじゃれ, dajare


pun

From the McCune-Reischauer romanization of Korean 분 (bun), from Chinese 分 (“fen”).

(Korean units of measure) Alternative form of bun (“Korean unit of measure”)


pun

Hackeries and carriages, loaded and empty, 8 annas. Sheep, goats, &c., 1 pun of cowries each.

1864, The Regulations of the Bengal Code in Force in September 1862, page 1019:

(India, historical) A certain number of cowries, generally 80.


degree Celsius

A metric unit of temperature, a derived unit of the International System of Units. Symbol: °C


steradian

(geometry) In the International System of Units, the derived unit of solid angle; the solid angle subtended at the centre of a sphere of radius r by a portion of the surface of the sphere that has area r². Symbol: sr


katal

From Ancient Greek κατάλυσις (katálusis, “dissolution”), from καταλύω (katalúō, “I dissolve”), from κατά (katá, “down”) + λύω (lúō, “I loose”).

(chemistry) In the International System of Units, the derived unit of catalytic activity; one mole per second. Symbol: kat.


radian

(geometry) In the International System of Units, the derived unit of plane angular measure of angle equal to the angle subtended at the centre of a circle by an arc of its circumference equal in length to the radius of the circle. Symbol: rad.


farad

Named after the English physicist Michael Faraday.

potential difference
potential difference

In the International System of Units, the derived unit of electrical capacitance; the capacitance of a capacitor in which one coulomb of charge causes a potential difference of one volt across the capacitor. Symbol: F


becquerel

Borrowed from French becquerel. Named after the French physicist Henri Becquerel.

In the International System of Units, the derived unit of radioactive activity; the activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per second. Symbol: Bq


ampere

Named after French physicist André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836).

named-after

Definition: The ampere, symbol A, is the SI unit of electric current. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the elementary charge e to be 1.602 176 634 x 10⁻¹⁹ when expressed in the unit C, which is equal to A s, where the second is defined in terms of Δν_(Cs). (The International Bureau of Weights and Measures)

A unit of electrical current, the standard base unit in the International System of Units; colloquially amp. Abbreviation: amp, Symbol: A


siemens

Named after the German inventor Werner von Siemens.

electrical conductance
electrical conductance

In the International System of Units, the derived unit of electrical conductance; the electric conductance in a body that has a resistance of one ohm. Symbol: S


joule

Named after English physicist James Prescott Joule (1818–1889). The surname is a variant of Joel.

In the International System of Units, the derived unit of energy, work and heat; the work required to exert a force of one newton for a distance of one metre. Equivalent to one watt of power for a duration of one second. Symbol: J


ohm

Named after Bavarian physicist Georg Ohm. A German surname, first recorded in the 12th century, from German Ohm (“uncle”), from a Proto-Germanic word. Compare Dutch oom (“uncle”).

electrical resistance
electrical resistance

In the International System of Units, the derived unit of electrical resistance; the electrical resistance of a device across which a potential difference of one volt causes a current of one ampere. Symbol: Ω


hertz

Named after German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857–1894).

In the International System of Units, the derived unit of frequency; one (period or cycle of any periodic event) per second. Symbol: Hz


pascal

Borrowed from French pascal, named after French scientist and philosopher Blaise Pascal. Doublet of Paschal.

In the International System of Units, the derived unit of pressure and stress; one newton per square metre. Symbol: Pa.


coulomb

From French coulomb, from the French physicist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb.

He is charged up with enough coulombs to make his hair stand on end.

In the International System of Units, the derived unit of electric charge; the amount of electric charge carried by a current of 1 ampere flowing for 1 second. Symbol: C


sievert

From Swedish Sievert. Named after the Swedish radiologist Rolf Sievert.

In the International System of Units, the derived unit of radiation dose; the dose received in one hour at a distance of 1 cm from a point source of 1 mg of radium in a 0.5 mm thick platinum enclosure. Symbol: Sv


kelvin

Named after Irish-born Scottish physicist William Thomson, Lord Kelvin. For the surname, see Kelvin.

thermodynamic temperature
thermodynamic temperature

In the International System of Units, the base unit of thermodynamic temperature; ¹⁄_(273.16) of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water. Shown as "K".


newton

Named after the English scientist Sir Isaac Newton.

In the International System of Units, the derived unit of force; the force required to accelerate a mass of one kilogram by one metre per second per second. Symbol: N.


candela

en-noun

candela (plural candelas or (rare) candelae)

candelas (plural)
candelae (plural rare)

Borrowed from Latin candēla (“candle”). Doublet of candle and chandelle.

In the International System of Units, the base unit of luminous intensity; the luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source that emits monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 × 10¹² hertz and that has a radiant intensity in that direction of 1/683 watt per steradian. Symbol: cd


lux

Borrowed from Latin lūx (“light”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“white; light; bright”). Cognates include Ancient Greek λευκός (leukós, “white, blank, light, bright, clear”), Ancient Greek λύκη (lúkē, “light, morning twilight”), Sanskrit रोचते (rocate), Middle Persian 𐭩𐭥𐭬 (rōz, “day”) and Old English lēoht (noun) (English light).

cog

In the International System of Units, the derived unit of illuminance or illumination; one lumen per square metre. Symbol: lx


weber

Named after the German physicist Wilhelm Eduard Weber

In the International System of Units, the derived unit of magnetic flux; the flux linking a circuit of one turn that produces an electromotive force of one volt when reduced uniformly to zero in one second. Symbol: Wb.


watt

what (Received Pronunciation, wine–whine merger)

Named after Scottish engineer James Watt. For the surname, see Watt.

named-after

In the International System of Units, the derived unit of power; the power of a system in which one joule of energy is transferred per second. Symbol: W


tesla

Named after Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla; where Nikola means Nicholas, and Tesla is a Serbian surname. In Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Тесла.

In a draft paper, REBCO wiring has been reported to produce magnetic fields over 35 Tesla; the ARC design only needs 20T fields.

2015 August 18, John Timmer, “Small, modular nuke plant proposed—this time for fusion”, in Ars Technica:

magnetic flux density
magnetic flux density

In the International System of Units, the derived unit of magnetic flux density or magnetic inductivity. Symbol: T

ቴስላ

Unit of measurement of magnetic flux density


lumen

Borrowed from Latin lumen (“light, an opening”). Use as a unit was first adopted by French physicist André Blondel in 1894.

(physics) In the International System of Units, the derived unit of luminous flux; the light that is emitted in a solid angle of one steradian from a source of one candela. Symbol: lm.


litre

→ Hindi: लीटर (līṭar)

From French litre, from Medieval Latin litra, from Ancient Greek λίτρα (lítra, “a Sicilian coin, a measure of weight”). Related to Latin libra. Doublet of rottol.

der

You should be able to fill four cups with one litre of water.

The metric unit of fluid measure, equal to one cubic decimetre. Symbols: l, L, ℓ


kilogram

From French kilogramme. By surface analysis, kilo- + gram.

In the International System of Units, the base unit of mass; conceived of as the mass of one litre of water, but now defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the Planck constant h to be 6.626 070 15 × 10⁻³⁴ when expressed in units of kg⋅m²⋅s⁻¹. Symbol: kg


fathom

From Middle English fathome, fadom, fadme (“unit of length of about six feet; depth of six feet for nautical soundings; (loosely) cubit; ell”) [and other forms], from Old English fæþm, fæþme (“encircling or outstretched arms, bosom, embrace; envelopment; control, grasp, power; fathom (unit of measurement); cubit”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *faþm (“outstretched arms, embrace; fathom (unit of measurement)”), from Proto-Germanic *faþmaz (“outstretched arms, embrace; fathom (unit of measurement)”), from Proto-Indo-European *pet-, *peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly”).
cognates
* Ancient Greek πέταλος (pétalos, “broad; flat”), πετᾰ́ννῡμῐ (petánnūmi, “to open; to spread out; to be dispersed or scattered”) (whence English petal)
* Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌸𐌰 (faþa, “fench; hedge”)
* Latin pateō (“to extend, increase; to be accessible, attainable, open; to be exposed, vulnerable”)
* Low German fadem, faem (“cubit; thread”)
* Middle Dutch vadem (modern Dutch vaam, vadem (“fathom”))
* Norwegian Bokmål favn (“an embrace; a fathom”)
* Old Frisian fethm (“outstretched arms”)
* Old High German fadam, fadum (“cubit”) (Middle High German vade (“enclosure”), vadem, vaden, modern German Faden (“fathom; filament, thread”))
* Old Norse faþmr (Danish favn (“an embrace; a fathom”), Icelandic faðmur (“an embrace”), Swedish famn (“the arms, bosom; an embrace”))
* Old Welsh etem (“thread”)

nb...

fadam, fadame, fademe, fadim, fadmen, fadome, fadum, fadym, fathem, fathme, fathum, fedme, fethme, feþme, (Southern England) vathym, vedme, vetheym, vethym, veðme, veþum

cog

[T]he ſhipmen deemed that they drew neere to ſome countrey: And ſounded, and found it twentie fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they ſounded againe, and found it fifteene fathoms.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 27:27–28, column 2:

Full fadom fiue thy Father lies,
Of his bones are Corrall made:
Those are pearles that were his eies,
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a Sea-change
Into someting rich, & strange

1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 5, column 1:

(chiefly nautical, historical, US) A man's armspan, generally reckoned to be six feet (about 1.8 metres). Later used to measure the depth of water, but now generally replaced by the metre outside American usage.

dupa

measure of six feet — see also brace, toise


estado

From Spanish estado (“Spanish fathom, state, status”), from Latin stātus (“standing, state, status”). Doublet of state, status, estate, and stade.

doublet

(historical) A traditional Spanish unit of length, equivalent to about 1.67 m.


volt

Named after Italian physicist Alessandro Volta. For the surname, see Italian Volta.

named-after

In the International System of Units, the derived unit of electrical potential and electromotive force (voltage); the potential difference across a conductor when a current of one ampere uses one watt of power. Symbol: V


grain

en-noun

grain (countable and uncountable, plural grains)

From Middle English greyn, grayn, grein, from Old French grain, grein, from Latin grānum (“seed”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm (“grain”). Doublet of corn, gram, granum, and grao.

𒊺

harvested seeds of various grass-related food crops

гран

unit of mass notionally based on grain's weight

en:any of various units of mass
en:English grain, 64.79891 mg

(countable) Any of various small units of mass originally notionally based on grain's weight, variously standardized at different places and times, including

The English grain of ¹⁄₅₇₆₀ troy pound or ¹⁄₇₀₀₀ pound avoirdupois, now exactly 64.79891 mg.

en:any of various units of mass
en:quarter-carat as 50 mg

The metric, carat, or pearl grain of ¹⁄₄ carat used for measuring precious stones and pearls, now exactly 50 mg.


score

en-verb

score (third-person singular simple present scores, present participle scoring, simple past and past participle scored)

scores (present singular third-person)
scoring (participle present)
scored (participle past)
scored (past)
score (infinitive)

→⇒ Irish: scóráil

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

From Middle English score, skore, schore, from Old English scoru (“notch; tally; score”), from Old Norse skor, from Proto-Germanic *skurō (“incision; tear; rift”), which is related to *skeraną (“to cut”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“cut”). Cognate with Icelandic skora, Swedish skåra, Danish skår. Related to shear.
For the sense “twenty”: The mark on a tally made by drovers for every twenty beasts passing through a tollgate.

der

Chris finally scored with Pat last week.

Gotta find a chick who'll give you more / Well, there's a spot that I've discovered / Where a guy's guaranteed to score

1982, “Prowlin'”, in Domenic Bugatti, Frank Muskeer, Christopher Cerf (lyrics), Grease 2:

(transitive, intransitive) To obtain something desired.

(vulgar, slang) To obtain a sexual favor.

To obtain something desired.
To obtain a sexual favor.


horsepower

en-noun

horsepower (countable and uncountable, plural horsepowers or horsepower)

horsepowers (plural)
horsepower (plural)

/ˈhɔɹsˌpaʊɚ/

/ˈhɔːsˌpaʊə/

horse + power: the unit was originally defined as the amount of power that a horse could provide.
Both non-metric and metric units of power were derived from effectively identical measurements of the power a draught horse could sustain over several hours, with the difference in watts solely due to different rounding errors to express that power in round numbers in the original non-SI units (ft·lbf/min and kgf⋅m/s respectively).

In the past, before the widespread adoption of SI units, the work that engines were capable of doing was compared with the work that horses could do – hence the term ‘horsepower’. Various people came up with various equivalencies, but the modern agreed definition is that 1 horsepower is 746 joules per second or 746 watts.

2012 March 22nd, David Blockley, Engineering: A Very Short Introduction (309), Oxford University Press, chapter 2: “The age of gravity – time for work”, page 20

mechanical horsepower
mechanical horsepower

A nonmetric unit of power (symbol hp) with various definitions, for different applications. The most common of them is probably the mechanical horsepower, approximately equal to 745.7 watts.


bar

bar (countable and uncountable, plural bars)

→ Albanian: bar m

→ Arabic: بَار m (bār)

→ Armenian: բար (bar)

→ Bulgarian: бар (bar)

→ Burmese: ဘား (bha:)

→ Chichewa: bála

→ Cantonese: 吧 (baa¹)

→ Czech: bar m

→ Danish: bar c

→ Dutch: bar m

→ Esperanto: baro

→ Estonian: baar

→ French: bar m
→ Romanian: bar

→ Galician: bar m

→ Georgian: ბარი (bari)

→ German: Bar f

→ Greek: μπαρ n (bar)

→ Gulf Arabic: بار (bār)

→ Hebrew: בָּר (bar), בָּאר (bár)

→ Hungarian: bár (also via German)

→ Icelandic: bar m

→ Irish: beár m

→ Italian: bar m

→ Japanese: バー (bā)

→ Khmer: បារ (baa)

→ Korean: 바 (ba)

→ Lithuanian: bãras m

→ Macedonian: бар m (bar)

→ Malagasy: ba

→ Mandarin: 吧 (bā)

→ Norwegian:

Bokmål: bar m

Nynorsk: bar m

→ Persian: بار (bâr)

→ Polish: bar m

→ Portuguese: bar m

→ Russian: бар m (bar)

→ Serbo-Croatian: ба̑р m, bȃr m

→ Slovene: bȃr m

→ Spanish: bar m

→ Swahili: baa

→ Swedish: bar c (see there for further descendants)

→ Thai: บาร์ (baa)

→ Turkish: bar

→ Xhosa: íbhári

→ Zulu: ibha

From Middle English barre, from Old French barre (“beam, bar, gate, barrier”), from Vulgar Latin *barra, of uncertain origin. Doublet of barre.

der

He's studying hard to pass the Bar this time; he's failed it twice before.

(US, Philippines, law, usually with the) The bar exam, the legal licensing exam.


bar

From Middle English barren, from Old French barrer, from Medieval Latin barrare (“to bar”), from the noun. Cognate to Occitan barrar, Spanish barrar, Portuguese barrar.
Preposition properly imperative of the verb. Compare barring.

Leg At Each Corner is at 3/1, Lost My Shirt 5/1, and it's 10/1 bar.

(horse racing) Denotes the minimum odds offered on other horses not mentioned by name.


tea

Semantic loan from Chinese 茶 (chá, “tea”).

sl

A moment, a historical unit of time from China, about the amount of time needed to quickly drink a traditional cup of tea. It is now found in Chinese-language historical fiction.


gradian

(geometry, trigonometry) A unit of angle equal to 0.9 degrees, so that there are 100 gradians in a right angle.


libra

libras (plural)
librae (plural)
contexts (Roman)

From Latin lībra (“pound”), partially via Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese libra. Doublet of lira, livre, libbre, liter, rottol, and arratel.

doublet

Ancient Roman units of measurement#Weight

pound

Portuguese contexts, but more often used for the arratel

(historical) Synonym of pound, a notional pound of silver as a money of account, especially in medieval contexts.


batman

Batman (unit)
Edward Ardizzone
Imperial War Museum

From Ottoman Turkish بطمان (batman). Cognate with Chagatai [script needed] (bātmān).

Euery bateman [in Bagdad] maketh 7. pound and 5. ounces English waight.

1583 July 20, J. Newbery, letter in Richard Hakluyt's The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, p. 209

A Batman is fiue and fiftie pound weight English.

1614, Samuel Purchas, Purchas His Pilgrimage, page 544:

Their weights [in Khiva] are the great batman equal to 18 lb. russian, and the lesser batman 9¼.

1753, G. Thompson & al. in Jonas Hanway's Historical Account of the British Trade over the Caspian Sea, Vol. I, p. 351

At Smyrna, the cantaro, or kintal, contains 45 okes, or 100 rottoli. The batman is 6 okes, or 2400 drachms; and the oke is 400 drachms, and the rottolo = 180 drachms. The cantaro of 45 okes weighs 123 lbs. 4 oz. avoirdupois; and, therefore, the oke is = 2 lbs. 11 oz. 13 drs. avoirdupois.

1819, Abraham Rees, The Cyclopaedia, Vol. XXX, s.v. "Rottolo"

6107. Turkish Weights. The Turkish Chequi is 11⅓ ounces avoirdupois...
1 Batman = 6 Okas
1 Oka = 4 Chequi

1900, William B. Dick, Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes, page 530:

(historical units of measure) A Turkish unit of weight varying by location, time, and item from 2–8 okas (about 2.5–10 kg).


ky

(metrology) Symbol for kiloyear, an SI unit of time equal to 10³ years.


rad

Coordinate term: gray

(metrology) A non-SI unit of absorbed dose of radiation, equal to 0.01 gray.


kip

1760–70, probably related to Danish kippe (“dive, hovel, cheap inn”) and Middle Low German kiffe (“hovel”). From the same distant Germanic root as cove.

I’m just going for my afternoon kip.

(informal, chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Sleep, snooze, nap, forty winks, doze.


kip

1910–15, Americanism, abbreviated from kilo + pound.

(rare, nonstandard) A unit of mass equal to 1000 avoirdupois pounds.


kip

(gymnastics) A basic skill or maneuver in artistic gymnastics on the uneven bars, parallel bars, high bar and still rings used, for example, as a way of mounting the bar in a front support position, or achieving a handstand from a hanging position. In its basic form, the legs are swung forward and upward by bending the hips, then suddenly down again, which gives the upward impulse to the body.

kippi

gymnastics: move or maneuver from below the equipment to above it


ton

→ Tokelauan: tone, tane

Variant of tun (“cask”), influenced by Old French tonne (“ton”).

ton

various units of mass notionally equivalent to a tun

Any of various units of mass, originally notionally equal to the contents of a tun, particularly:

The short ton of 2000 pounds (about 907 kg), 20 hundredweights of 100 pounds avoirdupois each.

Any of various units of volume, originally notionally equal to the contents of a tun, particularly:

The measurement ton of (US) 40 or (UK) 42 cubic feet (about 1.1 or 1.2 m³).

The register ton of 100 cubic feet (about 2.83 m³).

(colloquial, chiefly UK) Synonym of hundred, particularly

Synonym of hundred, particularly
100 pounds sterling.


ja

From the Revised Romanization of Korean 자 (ja).

(Korean units of measure) Synonym of Korean foot: a traditional unit of length equivalent to about 30.3 cm.


candlepower

en-noun

candlepower (usually uncountable, plural candlepowers)

(dated) A unit of luminous intensity of a light source, equal to 0.981 candelas.

燭

former measurement of brightness of a light source


superficial

en-adj

superficial (comparative more superficial, superlative most superficial)

more superficial (comparative)
most superficial (superlative)

Borrowing from Late Latin superficiālis (“of or belonging to the surface”), from superficiēs (“top, surface”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).

pintapuolinen

not thorough, concerned with the obvious or apparent

(relational) Existing, occurring, or located on the surface.

superficial muscles

The epidermis is superficial to the subcutis.

(anatomy, relational, often with to) Closer to the surface of the body; especially, situated or occurring on the skin or immediately beneath it.

These infamous little green men appeared during the decisive seizures or buildings and facilities, only to disappear when associated militias and local troops arrived to consolidate the gains. In this way they provided a measure of deniability—however superficial or implausible—for Moscow.⁴⁰

2014, "Little Green Men": A Primer on Modern Russian Unconventional Warfare, Ukraine 2013–2014, Fort Bragg, North Carolina: The United States Army Special Operations Command, page 43:

Not thorough, deep, or complete; concerned only with the obvious or apparent.

Lacking depth of character or understanding; lacking substance or significance.

(rare) Two-dimensional; drawn on a flat surface.

kaksiulotteinen

two-dimensional, drawn on a flat surface

one superficial foot

(British, architecture) Denoting a quantity of a material expressed in terms of area covered rather than linear dimension or volume.


barn

From Middle English barn, bern, bærn, from Old English bearn, bern, contracted forms of Old English berern, bereærn (“barn, granary”), compound of bere (“barley”) and ærn, ræn (“dwelling, barn”), from Proto-West Germanic *raʀn, from Proto-Germanic *razną (compare Old Norse rann), from pre-Germanic *h₁rh̥₁-s-nó-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁erh₁- (“to rest”).
More at rest and barley.
For the use as a unit of surface area, see w:Barn (unit) § Etymology.

der

close the barn door after the horse has bolted

not be able to hit the broad side of a barn

One day I was out in the barn and he drifted in. I was currying the horse and he set down on the wheelbarrow and begun to ask questions.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter XI, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

(agriculture) A building, often found on a farm, used for storage or keeping animals such as cattle.

(nuclear physics) A unit of surface area equal to 10⁻²⁸ square metres.

Maple Leaf Gardens was a grand old barn.

(informal, basketball, ice hockey) An arena.


barn

From Middle English barn, bern, from Old English bearn (“child, son, offspring, progeny”) and Old Norse barn (“child”). Doublet of bairn. Cognate to Frisian bern ("child/children"), Middle Dutch baren (“child”).

(dialect, parts of Northern England) A child.


cup

→ Farefare: kɔpɩ

→ Hebrew: קאפ (kap)

→ Japanese: カップ (kappu)

desc

→ Kashubian: kopsa (Canada, United States)

→ Korean: 컵 (keop)

→ Maori: kapu

From Middle English cuppe, coppe, from the merger of Old English cuppe (“cup”) and Old English copp (“cup, vessel”).
Old English cuppe is a borrowing from Late Latin cuppa, itself of obscure origin, but probably from earlier Latin cūpa (“tub, cask”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewp- (“a hollow”). Old English copp, however, is from Proto-West Germanic *kopp (“round object, bowl, vessel, knoll, summit, crown of the head”), from Proto-Germanic *kuppaz, from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend, curve, arch”) (whence also obsolete English cop (“top, summit, crown of the head”), German Kopf (“top, head”)).
The Middle English word was further reinforced by Anglo-Norman cupe and Old French cope, coupe, from Latin cuppa. Compare also Saterland Frisian Kop (“cup”), West Frisian kop (“cup”), Dutch kop (“cup”), German Low German Koppke, Köppke (“cup”), Danish kop (“cup”), Swedish kopp (“cup”). Doublet of coupe, hive, and keeve.

unk

obscure

cog

that and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee

that and a nickel will buy you a cup of coffee

that and twenty-five cents will get you a cup of coffee

there's many a slip between the cup and the lip

there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip

(US) A US unit of liquid measure equal to 8 fluid ounces (¹⁄₁₆ of a US gallon; 236.5882365 mL) or 240 mL.

(Canada) A Canadian unit of measure equal to 8 imperial ounces (¹⁄₂₀ imperial gallon; 227.3 mL) or 250 mL.

(Australia, New Zealand) A metric unit of measure equal to 250 mL.


metric ton

One typical Grecian kiln engorged one thousand muleloads of juniper wood in a single burn. Fifty such kilns would devour six thousand metric tons of trees and brush annually.

2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion:

(chiefly US) A unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms, about 2204.6 pounds avoirdupois.


tonne

From French tonne. Doublet of ton and tun.

Although loads of up to 900 tonnes could be handled by one of these locomotives, in practice the load is limited to 790 tonnes by drawgear.

1961 February, “Letters to the Editor: Swiss railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 126:

The metric ton or 'tonne' is accepted as a synonym for the megagramme, and this form Is to be preferred on the grounds of brevity and familiarity in the industry. It may be as well to use the pronunciation 'tunnie' until the risk of confusion with the old ton has passed.

1971, Transactions of the Royal Institute of Naval Arcihtects, volume 113, page 215:

The British Steel Corporation, going metric but realising the possible confusion between a ton and a tonne (1,000 kilograms) has directed its staff to pronounce ‘tonne’ ‘tunnie’.

The tonne rhymes with con (perhaps not in North America!) to distinguish it from the non-SI unit of weight, the ton rhyming with bun.

2002, Richard Chapman, Physics for Geologists, CRC Press, published 2002, →ISBN, page 138:

(outside U.S.) A unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms.


hobbit

en-noun

hobbit (plural hobbits or (humorous) hobbitses)

hobbits (plural)
hobbitses (humorous plural)

Denham Tracts
Hobbit (word)
J. R. R. Tolkien
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings
hobbit

Coined in its current sense by J. R. R. Tolkien in the 1930s, featured in the novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Jocularly etymologized by him as from a hypothetical Old English *holbytla (literally “hole-builder”), from hol (“hole”) + bytlan (“to build”) + -a (“-er”). Tolkien was possibly influenced by similar terms for house-sprites (probably from Hob, a hypocoristic form of Robert), or an isolated mention of hobbits (with hobgoblins following immediately afterwards) in a list of sprites and bogies from the 19th-century Denham Tracts.

pseudo-loan

(US, slang, uncommon) A socially unappealing, overly academic student.


yottagram

(metrology) An SI unit of mass equal to 10²⁴ grams. Symbol: Yg


zettagram

(metrology) An SI unit of mass equal to 10²¹ grams. Symbol: Zg


exagram

(rare) (metrology) An SI unit of mass equal to 10¹⁸ grams. Symbol: Eg


teragram

(metrology) An SI unit of mass equal to 10¹² grams. Symbol: Tg


gigagram

(metrology) An SI unit of mass equal to 10⁹ grams. Symbol: Gg


zeptogram

(metrology) An SI unit of mass equal to 10⁻²¹ grams. Symbol: zg


femtogram

(metrology) An SI unit of mass equal to 10⁻¹⁵ grams. Symbol: fg


yoctogram

(metrology) An SI unit of mass equal to 10⁻²⁴ grams. Symbol: yg


petagram

(metrology) An SI unit of mass equal to 10¹⁵ grams. Symbol: Pg

An SI unit of mass equal to 10¹⁵ grams. Symbol: Pg
Sometimes used in Carbon Dioxide numbers, it is equivalent to Metric Gigatons (Giga) 10⁹ x (Ton) 10³ x (kg) 10³ = 10¹⁵


attogram

(metrology) An SI unit of mass equal to 10⁻¹⁸ grams. Symbol: ag


nanogram

(metrology) An SI unit of mass equal to 10⁻⁹ grams. Symbol: ng


picogram

(metrology) An SI unit of mass equal to 10⁻¹² grams. Symbol: pg


megagram

(metrology) An SI unit of mass equal to 10⁶ grams. Symbol: Mg


hectogram

(metrology) An SI unit of mass equal to 10² grams. Symbol: hg


microgram

(metrology) An SI unit of mass equal to 10⁻⁶ grams. Symbol: μg A unit of mass equal to one millionth of a gram, or 0.000 001 grams.


yard

en-noun

yard (plural yards or (UK colloquial) yard)

yards (plural)
yard (UK colloquial plural)

rod (unit)
yard
yard (disambiguation)
yard (sailing)
yardland

From Middle English ȝerde, yerd, ȝerd, from Old English ġierd (“branch; rod, staff; measuring stick; yardland”), from Proto-West Germanic *gaʀd, from Proto-Germanic *gazdaz. Cognate with Dutch gard (“twig”), German Gerte and probably related to Latin hasta (“spear”).

ráhno

nautical: tapered timber from which square sails hang

A unit of length equal to 3 feet in the US customary and British imperial systems of measurement, equal to precisely 0.9144 m since 1959 (US) or 1963 (UK).

(informal) Ellipsis of square yard.. a unit of area (common with textiles)


knot

From Middle English knotte, from Old English cnotta, from Proto-West Germanic *knottō, from Proto-Germanic *knuttô, *knudô (“knot”); probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gnod- (“to bind”).
See also Old High German knoto (German Knoten, Dutch knot, Low German Knütte; also Old Norse knútr > Danish knude, Swedish knut, Norwegian knute, Faroese knútur, Icelandic hnútur; also Latin nōdus and its Romance descendants. Doublet of knout, node, and nodus.
* (unit of speed): From the practice of counting the number of knots in the log-line (as it is paid out) in a standard time. Traditionally spaced at one every ¹⁄₁₂₀ of a mile.


hectare

Borrowed from French hectare, formed from Ancient Greek ἑκατόν (hekatón, “hundred”) + are.

uder

With careful planning almost anyone can turn the dream of owning a small farm or a few hectares of country land into a reality.

1997, “Buying a Rural Property”, in Back to Basics, Surry Hills, NSW: Reader's Digest (Australia) Pty Limited, page 10:

Last year 1m square metres of plant-covered roofing was built in France, as much as in the US, and 10 times more than in Germany, the pioneer in this field. In Paris 22 hectares of roof have been planted, out of a potential total of 80 hectares.

2013 May 10, Audrey Garric, “Urban canopies let nature bloom”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 22, page 30:

A unit of surface area (symbol ㏊) equal to 100 ares (that is, 10,000 square metres, one hundredth of a square kilometre, or approximately 2.5 acres), used for measuring the areas of geographical features such as land and bodies of water.


zettasecond

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10²¹ seconds. Symbol: Zs


exasecond

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10¹⁸ seconds. Symbol: Es


yottasecond

Trades Descriptions Act... "always on" presumably means 100.00 % uptime for the rest of infinity with nary a yottasecond's downtime.

2000 October 31, Joe Harrison <joe.harrison@ANT15P4M.teamware.co.uk>, “Re: Bt openworld limitations .. post `em here”, in uk.telecom.broadband (Usenet), message-ID <8tms8c$2arb$1@news.icl.se>:

Basically, I want yottaseconds and yoctoyears calculated with the same datatype for normal time.

2009 February 20, Larry Wall <larry@wall.org>, “Re: r25445 - docs/Perl6/Spec/S32-setting-library”, in perl.perl6.language (Usenet), message-ID <20090220171124.GA18585@wall.org>:

12.7 furlongs per fortnight in parsecs per yottasecond

2009 April 3, <timewarp2008@yahoo.com>, “Re: The first rule of marriage”, in soc.religion.quaker,alt.stupidity (Usenet), message-ID <3ff2d63e-89dd-4c2d-bf14-995ec7088b92@y13g2000yqn.googlegroups.com>:

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10²⁴ seconds. Symbol: Ys


gigasecond

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10⁹ seconds. Symbol: Gs


megasecond

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10⁶ seconds. Symbol: Ms


kilosecond

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10³ seconds. Symbol: ks


terasecond

The solar system has been in existence for about 150000 teraseconds and may well remain in existence without major change for 500000 additional teraseconds.

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10¹² seconds. Symbol: Ts


yoctosecond

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10⁻²⁴ seconds. Symbol: ys


zeptosecond

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10⁻²¹ seconds. Symbol: zs


femtosecond

Sheldon Cooper: My hair is growing at the rate of 4.6 yoctometers per femtosecond.

2012, Mark Cendrowski, The Big Bang Theory, Season 5, Episode 18, "The Werewolf Transformation"

The observation and manipulation of electron dynamics in matter call for attosecond light pulses, routinely available from high-order harmonic generation driven by few-femtosecond lasers.

2017, D. E. Rivas, A. Borot, D. E. Cardenas, G. Marcus, X. Gu, D. Herrmann, J. Xu, J. Tan, D. Kormin, G. Ma, W. Dallari, G. D. Tsakiris, I. B. Földes, S.-w. Chou, M. Weidman, B. Bergues, T. Wittmann, H. Schröder, P. Tzallas, D. Charalambidis, O. Razskazovskaya, V. Pervak, F. Krausz, L. Veisz, “Next Generation Driver for Attosecond and Laser-plasma Physics”, in Scientific Reports, volume 7, →DOI:

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10⁻¹⁵ seconds. Symbol: fs


petasecond

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10¹⁵ seconds. Symbol: Ps


decisecond

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10⁻¹ seconds. Symbol: ds


attosecond

I can think at the speed of light, I can perceive events that last for less than an attosecond, I can run faster than time. What do I see when I run across the country, Superman? I see everything. And everyone.

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10⁻¹⁸ seconds. Symbol: as


centisecond

From centi- + second, modelled on French centiseconde.

A unit of time equal to 0.01 seconds and with symbol cs.


microsecond

(metrology) An SI unit of time equal to 10⁻⁶ seconds. Symbol: μs It is commonly represented with symbol µs.