16 January 2017
avoirdupois
[av-er-duh-poiz]
noun
1. avoirdupois weight.
2. Informal. bodily weight:
He carries around a lot of excess avoirdupois.
Origin of avoirdupois
Middle English
1250-1300; Middle English avoir de pois literally, property of weight < Old French, equivalent to avoir (earlier aveir < Latin habēre to have) + de (< Latin dē) + pois (earlier peis < Latin pēnsum)
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for avoirdupois
Contemporary Examples
Its owner seems to take as much pride in her bones as the big girls of Rubens could take in their avoirdupois.
Skin, Bones and Beauty
Blake Gopnik
August 14, 2012
Historical Examples
She had so far successfully fought down an hereditary tendency to avoirdupois.
By the Light of the Soul
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
A single pair has been known to weigh as much as 60 pounds avoirdupois !
The Hunters’ Feast
Mayne Reid
avoirdupois weight
Word Origin
noun
1. a system of weight measurement based on a pound of 16 ounces or 7,000 grains, in wide use in English-speaking countries; the system is used for goods other than gems, precious metals, and drugs: 27 11/32 grains = 1 dram; 16 drams = 1 ounce; 16 ounces = 1 pound; 112 pounds (Brit.) or 100 pounds (U.S.) = 1 hundredweight; 20 hundredweight = 1 ton. The pound contains 7000 grains.
Abbreviation: av.; avdp.; avoir.
Origin of avoirdupois weight
1610-1620
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for avoirdupois weight
Contemporary example
In the avoirdupois measuring system, a dram is defined as 1/16 of an ounce which is exactly 1.7718451953125 grams.
Dramming.com
Historical Examples
A gallon contains 8.33 pounds avoirdupois weight of distilled water. Now we don’t want to sell our whisky by the pound by weight, but luckily there is also a liquid version of the dram, called the fluid dram. For some strange reason this is defined as 1/8 of a fluid ounce.
Practical Mechanics for Boys
J. S. Zerbe
One felt that each had measured the other by avoirdupois weight, and had found the balance even.
The Lowest Rung
Mary Cholmondeley
Most people give gratitude in grains for whole ounces of avoirdupois weight ; what a grateful soul yours is, Miss Lambert.’
Heriot’s Choice
Rosa Nouchette Carey
Throughout this book, the pound is avoirdupois weight —sixteen ounces.
Miss Leslie’s Lady’s New Receipt-Book
Eliza Leslie
One must weigh men by avoirdupois weight, and not by the jeweller’s scales.
Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources
James Wood
Anagram
I pour avoids
saviour i pod
Today’s quote
Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
On this day
16 January 1920 – Prohibition commences in the U.S. with the passing of the 18th Amendment which prohibited the importation, exportation, transporting, selling and manufacturing of alcohol.
16 January 1945 – Adolf Hitler flees to his bunker with his long-time companion, Eva Braun. They remain there for 105 days until he takes his own life.
16 January 1979 – The Shah of Iran is forced to flee Iran following the mutiny of his Army and a revolution led by students, which resulted in the Ayatollah Khomeini taking over the leadership of the country.