| 释义 |
▪ I. pound, n.1|paʊnd|
Forms: 1–4 (Sc. and north. dial. –9) pund, (4–5 n. dial. punde); 3– pound, (4–6 pounde, pownd(e; pond(e).
[OE. pund (pl. pund):—WGer. stem *pundo- pound (weight), = OSax., OFris., ON., Goth. pund (MLG. punt, LG. pund, MDu. pont, Du. pond), OHG. phunt (MHG. pfunt, G. pfund), a very early adopted word, a. L. pondo indecl. a pound (weight), orig. instr. abl. of *pondus, -um = pondus, -er- weight, in use short for libra pondo a pound by weight, a pound weight.]
I.
1. a. A measure of weight and mass derived from the ancient Roman libra (= 327·25 grams), but very variously modified in the course of ages in different countries, and as used for different classes of things; in Great Britain now fixed for use in trade by a Parliamentary standard. Denoted by lb. (L. libra).
Formerly used without change in the pl., a usage still sometimes retained after a numeral, esp. dial. and colloq., also in comb. as a five pound note, a twenty pound shot.
This pound consisted originally of 12 ounces, corresponding more or less to that of troy weight, q.v., which contains 5760 grains = 373·26 grams. This is still used by goldsmiths and jewellers in stating the weight of gold, silver, and precious stones; but as early as the thirteenth or fourteenth century a pound of sixteen ounces was in use for more bulky commodities. This was made a standard for general purposes of trade by Edward III, and known as the pound aveir de peis, i.e. of merchandise of weight, now called avoirdupois, q.v. This pound of 16 ounces, containing 7000 grains = 453·6 grams, has been since 1826 the only legal pound for buying or selling any commodity in Great Britain. In former times the pound varied locally from 12 to 27 ounces, according to the commodity, pounds of different weight being often used in the same place for different articles, as bread, butter, cheese, meat, malt, hay, wool, etc. See a list in Old Country and Farming Words (E.D.S.) 174–5. The Scotch pound of 16 ounces of Troy or Dutch Weight consisted of 7608·9496 grains; the Tron pound kept at Edinburgh = 9622·67 grains. Pound is also used to translate foreign names of weights, of cognate origin or representatives of L. libra. These vary greatly: in Italy between 300 and 350 grams, in Spain and Portugal, the Netherlands, and some German states between 459 and 469 grams, in other German states, Denmark, etc. between 477 and 510·22 grams. But the standard German pfund is now 500 grams, i.e. half a kilogram.
805–31Charter of Oswulf (Sweet O.E.T. 444), iiii scep & tua flicca & v goes, & x hennfuᵹlas & x pund caeses. c1000Ags. Gosp John xii. 3 Maria nam an pund deorwyrðre sealfe. c1050Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 335 An uncia stent on feower and twentiᵹ peneᵹum. Twelf siðon twelf peneᵹas beoð on anum punde. a1340Hampole Psalter lxi. 9 Wiþ a fals punde þei begile þem þat sees þaim. 1340Ayenb. 190 Uyftene pond of gold. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 155, I haue peper and piane and a pound of garlek. 1389in Eng. Gilds (1870) 4 Of peyne of a pond wax to þe bretherhede. c1420Liber Cocorum (1862) 19 Take a pownde of ryse and sethe hom wele. 1532Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. VI. 156, xxviij li culvering pulder, price of ilk pund iiij s. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa Introd. 39 Some of them weie aboue fiue hundred pound. Ibid. 40 Of elephants,..some of their teeth do weigh two hundred pounds, at sixteene ounces the pound. 1602W. Fulbecke Pandectes 71 An hundred fortie two thousand pound of siluer. 1744Berkeley Siris §22 This excellent balsam may be purchased for a penny a pound. 1749Reynardson in Phil. Trans. XLVI. 59 At the same Time [1696] and Place, the Standard Troy Weights were compared with the Standard Avoirdepois,..which fixes the Pound Avoirdepois at 7000 such Grains, as the Troy Pound weighs 5760. a1796Burns (title) The weary Pund o' Tow. 1821J. Q. Adams in C. Davies Metr. Syst. iii. (1871) 113 The time and occasion of the introduction of the avoirdupois pound into England is no better known than that of the troy weight. 1855Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 1125 Pound (Bucks.), sometimes 17 oz.; (Chesh.), 18 oz.; (Corn.), 18 oz.; (Derbys.), 17 oz.; (Devons.), 18 oz.; (Dorset), in some parts 18 oz.; (Durham), in many parts 22 oz.; etc., etc. 1895Model Steam Engine 47 A common standard or ‘unit of work’ is obviously necessary. That..called the ‘foot pound’ is one pound raised through a space of one foot in one minute. 1959Nature 10 Jan. 80 To secure identical values for each of these units in precise measurements for science and technology, it has been agreed [by standards laboratories in many countries] to adopt an international yard and an international pound..: the international pound equals 0·453 592 37 kgm... The yard and pound units to be used in trade are the imperial units laid down in the Weights and Measures Act, 1878. Ibid. 81 With regard to the pound, the values currently in use..are: 1 imperial standard pound = 0·453 592 338 kgm.; 1 Canadian pound = 0·453 592 43 kgm.; 1 United States pound = 0·453 592 4277 kgm. There is evidence that the imperial standard pound has diminished by about 7 parts in 10 millions since 1846. 1961[see lb]. 1963Jerrard & McNeill Dict. Sci. Units 109 In 1963 the pound was defined as being equal to ‘0·45359237 Kilogramme exactly’ by the Weights and Measures Act... This pound is identical with the International pound adopted in 1959 by Standards Laboratories.
†b. A pound weight of water, forming a measure of capacity equivalent to a pint, and used in the OE. period as a standard of liquid and dry measure, in full water-pound. Obs.
Three Scotch pounds of the Water of Leith was the standard of the pint in Scotch liquid measure = 3 imperial pints.
c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 298 Pund eles ᵹewihð xii peneᵹum læsse þonne pund wætres, & pund ealoð ᵹewihð vi peneᵹum mare þonne pund wætres. Ibid. Gloss. 402 Norma, wæter pund.
c. fig. Of imponderable things; esp. in proverbial expressions.
1526,1670[see ounce n.1 1 c]. 1607T. Walkington Opt. Glass 114 They..affirme men..to haue a pound of folly to an ounce of pollicy. a1704T. Brown tr. æneas Sylvius' Lett. lxxxii. Wks. 1709 III. ii. 83 An hundred Pound of Sorrow pays not an Ounce of our Debts.
†d. A pound-weight, a weight. Obs. nonce-use.
1607Shakes. Cor. iii. i. 314 This Tiger-footed-rage..will (too late) Tye Leaden pounds too's heeles.
†e. in pound: ? in pounds, or ? in a balance. Obs. nonce-use.
1596Spenser F.Q. v. ii. 36 But if thou now shouldst weigh them new in pound, We are not sure they would so long remaine.
f. pound of flesh: used proverbially, with reference to Shakes. Merch. V.: see quots.; also (with hyphens) as phr.
1596Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 99 Shylock. The pound of flesh which I demand of him Is deerely bought, 'tis mine, and I will haue it. Ibid. 308 Portia. Then take thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh. 1860Kingsley Misc. I. 23 Who would not..have given his pound of flesh to be captain of her guard? 1887Fortn. Rev. Jan. 14 All the other Great Powers want their pound of flesh from Turkey. 1958Listener 13 Nov. 775/2 He is entirely consistent..In the application of this pound-of-flesh attitude. 1963Auden Dyer's Hand 228 Pecorone or other versions of the pound-of-flesh story.
g. pound and pint (Naut. slang), a sailor's ration as determined by the Board of Trade's Scale of Provisions. So pound and pinter, a ship on which rations were provided on this scale; pound-and-pint idler (see quot. a 1865). Obs. exc. Hist.
a1865Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. (1867) 540 Pound-and-pint-idler, a sobriquet applied to the purser. 1902W. Runciman Windjammers & Sea Tramps vii. 90 Their ‘whack’, or to be strictly accurate, the phrase commonly used was ‘your pound and pint’. 1910D. W. Bone Brassbounder 168 A pound and pint ruddy limejuicer. 1938W. E. Dexter Rope-Yarns v. 31 It seemed my lot to mostly sail in what we called ‘hungry-gutted ships’, ‘pound and pinters’. 1952‘Sinbad’ Sargasso Sam xxviii. 211 Wot about tucker? We never come aboard this old wagon to eat deepwater muck. Looks like we're gettin' pound an' pint and no more.
h. [from pound of lead, rhyming slang for ‘head’.] The human head.
1933F. Richards Old Soldiers never Die xiv. 180 We old hands often used to remark that when we did get hit it would either be a bullet through the pound or stop a five-point-nine all on our own.
†2. ellipt. (sc. shot) = pounder n.4 2. Obs. rare.
1759Adm. Holmes in Naval Chron. XXIV. 119 One carrying a 24-pound and the other a 9-pound.
II.
3. a. An English money of account (originally, a pound weight of silver), of the value of 20 shillings or 240 pence, and formerly represented by the gold sovereign; since 1971, of the value of 100 new pence. Denoted by {pstlg} before the numeral (occas. by l. after it), and distinguished by the epithet sterling.
c975Rushw. Gosp. Matt. xviii. 24 Wæs an broht, se him sceolde tyn þusend punda. c1050Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 306, xx scillingas beoð on anum punde, and twelf siðon twentiᵹ peneᵹa byð an pund. c1205Lay. 8907 He sæl..ælche ȝere senden þreo þusend punden. a1250Owl & Night. 1101, & yaf for me an hundred punde. c1300Havelok 1633 A gold ring drow he forth anon, An hundred pund was worth þe ston. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 82 A litel deed leed costiþ many þousand pond bi ȝere to oure pore land. Ibid. 100 Many þousand pondis. c1420Sir Amadace (Camden) xxxii, The warst hors is worthe ten pownde. 1542Recorde Gr. Artes (1575) 198 Poundes, Markes, and shillings,..though they haue no coynes, yet is there no name more in vse than they. 1607Middleton Five Gallants ii. iii. 232, I can lend you three pound, sir... There 'tis in six angels. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. xiii. §33 Ten brave Spanish Horses, the worst of which cost there three hundred pounds sterling. 1712Addison Spect. No. 445 ⁋5 If my Country receives Five or Six Pounds a-day by my Labours, I shall be very well pleased. 1795E. Tatham Nat. Debt 14 Put the National funded Debt at Two Hundred Millions of Pounds. But what is a Pound: for that is the denominator. 1888A. Dobson Goldsmith 112 ‘Pounds’ and ‘guineas’ were then [in the time of Dr. Johnson], as Croker points out in one of his notes, convertible terms.
b. Used as the type of a large sum of money, often in contrast with penny, or † associated with mark. Now chiefly in proverbial phrases. See penny 9.
a1200Moral Ode 67 Alse mid his penie alse oðer mið his punde. Ibid. 296 Ne sculle hi neure comen vp for marke ne for punde. c1400Rom. Rose 5986 That he shal, in a fewe stoundes, Lese alle his markes and his poundes. 1550Crowley Last Trump. 1112 Thou maist for shyllinges gather poundes. 1562Mountgomery in Archæologia XLVII. 240 Reamembringe that well ys spent the pennie that salveth the pounde.
†c. Through gradual debasement of the coinage, the ‘pound Scots’, originally the same as the English, was at the Union of the Crowns equal to one twelfth of a pound sterling, being divided into 20 shillings each of the value of an English penny.
1375Barbour Bruce xviii. 521 Lang eftir syne ransonyt wes he For tuenty thousand pund to pay. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxxi. 75 Into this realme ȝow war worth mony ane pound. 1545Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 19 Twa hundreith pundis usuall money of this realm. 1614B. Jonson Barth. Fair iii. iv, What a Masque shall I furnish out, for forty shillings? (twenty pound scotch) and a Banquet of Ginger-bread? 1617Moryson Itin. i. 283 The Scots of old called 20 English pence a pound, as wee in England call 20 siluer shillings a pound. 1790Burns Tam O'Shanter 177 That sark she coft for her wee Nannie, Wi' twa pund Scots, ('twas a' her riches). 1814Scott Wav. xviii, ‘Donald would not lower a farthing of a thousand punds’—‘The devil!’ ‘Punds Scottish, ye shall understand’.
d. Applied to the Turkish (and, formerly, Egyptian) gold pieces of 100 piastres, and to units of currency originally valued at par with the pound sterling.
1883Whitaker's Almanac 371, Foreign Monies; Gold coins; Ottoman Empire, Turkish pound of 100 piastres {pstlg}0. 18. 03/4. 1889Ibid. 657 Egypt, 100 piastre piece (Egyptian {pstlg}) {pstlg}1. 0. 3½. 1949Britannica Bk. of Year 364/2 On Aug. 17, 1948, a new Israeli pound..displaced the Palestine pound. 1955Ibid. 141/1 Cyprus... Monetary unit: Cyprus pound (= {pstlg}1 sterling). 1958Spectator 15 Aug. 216/3 No one wanted to lend any money in terms of the Israeli Pound. 1975Times 25 Nov. 7/1 The Israeli pound is officially fixed at seven to the dollar.
e. Phrases. in the pound, † at pound, reckoned at so much for each pound. pound and (or for) pound, one pound for another, at the same rate. pounds, shillings, and pence: = money; also attrib. monetary; in fig. sense, = viewing things at their money value; matter-of-fact, realistic.
1514Wriothesley Chron. (Camden) I. 9 Where was graunted to the King of all men's goodes 6d. in the pownde. 1545Brinklow Compl. Table 2 b, That all creditors may have pownd and pownd alyke. 1610–11in North Riding Rec. (1884) I. 209 John Raynson..using the trade of usurie, taking foure shillinges at pound. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. viii. 325 A new duty from 6d. to 1s. in the pound..imposed by statutes 18 Geo. III. c. 26. and 19 Geo. III. c. 59. on every dwelling-house inhabited, together with the offices and gardens therewith occupied. 1829Southey Sir T. More II. 123 Let him calculate whether he and they would have been gainers, even in this low, pounds-shillings-and-pence point of view. 1870J. Anderson in Eng. Mech. 14 Jan. 426/2 Everything..narrows itself down into a pounds-shillings-and-pence question. 1900Daily News 15 May 3/1 We claim to be a practical people, a pounds-shillings-and-pence people.
f. Five dollars; a five-dollar note. U.S. slang.
1935J. Hargan Gloss. Prison Lang. 6 Pound, a five dollar bill. 1950New Yorker 25 Feb. 76 A pound off of thirty-four-fifty would still leave twenty-nine-fifty. 1970H. E. Roberts Third Ear 11/1 Pounds, money; five dollars.
4. attrib. and Comb.
a. simple attrib., in the senses (a) of a pound weight, as pound-butter, sold (in quantity) by the pound, as pound beads, pound pins, pound yarn; (b) of the amount or value of a pound sterling, as pound matter, pound prize.
b. Special combs.: pound brush, a large paint-brush; pound coin (also written {pstlg}1 coin), a coin worth one pound sterling, introduced in the U.K. on 21 April 1983 and subsequently superseding the pound note; a pound-piece; pound-day, see quot.; pound-force (pl. pounds-force), a unit of force equal to the weight of a mass of 1 pound avoirdupois, esp. under standard gravity; pound-nail, see quot. 1727–41; pound note, a bank-note for one pound (see pound coin: pound notes are still issued in the U.K. by the Scottish banks); pound-noteish a. (slang), affected, pompous; pound party (U.S.), a party meeting without invitation at a friend's house, each member bringing a pound or so of some eatable ready for consumption, which is handed to the hostess to entertain the unexpected guests; also, a gathering to which each person brings a parcel of undeclared contents, which is sold by auction or otherwise to those present, the proceeds being devoted to charity; † pound-pear, an old name for a large variety of cooking pear; pound-piece, a piece of money worth a pound; pound-pint, a pint equal to the capacity of a pound of water: see 1 b; pound-rate, † rent, a rate of so much in the pound; † pound-right obs., ? the right to the amount of moorland which went with a pound-land; or ? a right to the moor valued at a pound; pound rocket, see quot.; pound-velo, a unit of momentum; the momentum of a body of mass 1 lb. moving with a velocity of 1 foot per second; pound-weight (pl. pounds-weight) = pound-force above; pound-worth, pound's-worth, as much of anything as is worth or may be bought for a pound; † spec. a piece (of land) worth a pound a year: cf. librate n. See also pound-cake, etc.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Pound-beads, a kind of bead, white or red, used in West African trade with the natives.
1830G. Colman Random Rec. I. ii. 35 My pictures are only sketches, and dabs of the *pound-brush. 1873E. Spon Workshop Receipts Ser. i. 106/1 The large round brush, called the pound brush, and a smaller one called the tool, are those mostly used in plain work.
1886Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., *Pound-butter, butter made up in pats of a pound each, as distinguished from..butter..in bulk.
1980Times 18 July 2/5 London Transport yesterday called for a *{pstlg}1 coin to cut down queues at ticket machines. Ibid. 12 Nov. 16/5 Anyone who travels regularly on the London Underground..will realize that a British pound coin cannot be long delayed. 1983Daily Tel. 23 Apr. 21/4 The arrival of the new pound coin has triggered off something of a new ‘Green Piece’ movement in St. Austell, Cornwall, this week. 1986Sunday Tel. 15 June 11/8, I have not found..that it is more difficult to tip a {pstlg}1 coin than a pound note.
1889Clerks Guernsey News 10 May 5/1 The *Pound Day at the Victoria Cottage Hospital..was a great success, the appeal for a pound weight of some kind of grocery from each donor being very..widely responded to.
1896T. W. Wright Elem. Mech. ii. 62 The word pound has a..variety of meanings. We speak of a pound weight, a *pound force, and of a certain body itself as ‘a pound’. 1909J. M. Jameson Elem. Pract. Mech. ix. 149 These two units of force, the pound force and the gram force are sometimes called Gravitational Units of Force. 1949W. Ernst Oil Hydraulic Power i. 2 The pound force imparts 32·174 feet per sec2 to the pound mass. 1961[see lb]. 1972Physics Bull. May 285/1 The subsequent addition of small weights permits forces to be obtained directly in both tons-force and pounds-force. 1977Daily Tel. 16 Dec. 2/3 As Britain moves towards complete metrication motorists will have to get used to checking their car tyre pressures in atmospheric bars instead of pounds force per square inch.
a1617Bayne On Eph. i. (1643) 16 We would be loath to take a slip..in a twelve-*pound matter.
1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Nails, *Pound Nails, are four-square in the shank; much used in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, though scarce elsewhere, except for paling.
1845Disraeli Sybil ii. x, Ah! a queer fellow; lent him a one-*pound note—never saw it again.
1936J. Curtis Gilt Kid vi. 63 Her *pound-noteish voice both annoyed and amused the Gilt Kid. 1966Auden About House 28 When we get pound-noteish..send us some deflating Image.
1889Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 22 Jan. 2/3 The old-fashioned *pound party has become this winter a fashionable city entertainment. 1889Farmer Americanisms, Pound party, very similar to Donation party.
1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 99/1 Poire de bon Chrestien, poire de liure,..a *pound-peare. a1667Cowley Ess. in Verse & Prose, Greatness, He would eat nothing but what was great, nor touch any Fruit but Horse-Plums and Pound-Pears. 1766Compl. Farmer s.v. Pear, The pound-pear, or black-pear of Worcester.
1889H. Johnston Chron. Glenbuckie xxii. 261 There are twenty gouden *pound-pieces.
1865R. Hunt Pop. Rom. W. Eng. Ser. ii. 81 He told her to..get a packet of *pound pins. 1886Folk-Lore Jrnl. IV. 126 Pins—not the well-made ones sold in papers, but clumsy things with wire heads—‘pound⁓pins’.
1901E. Nicholson in N. & Q. 9th Ser. VIII. 283/1 Our bushel was originally the measure containing a quantity of wheat equal to the weight of a cubic foot of water at ordinary temperature, 62·3 lb., and therefore, on the *pound⁓pint system, containing the same number of pints of wheat.
1773J. Northcote Let. in Sotheran's Catal. No 12 (1899) 39, The gentleman who won the Twenty Thousand *Pound Prize in the last Lottery.
1712Prideaux Direct. Ch.-wardens (ed. 4) 57 A Church-Rate..to be made..by an equal *Pound Rate. 1766Entick London IV. 404, 125 l. raised by a pound-rate, at 4 d. in the pound.
1661Marvell Corr. xxvi. Wks. (Grosart) II. 62 That you ascertain in expresse words the summe that is to be raised by *pound rent. 1682N. O. Boileau's Lutrin iv. 293 Item, twice fifty more Per ann. in Pound-Rents!
1586Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees) II. 128 Two lyttell croftes..called tenter croftes, with the churche yearde of Darnton, and one *pownderight of Branson moore.
1873E. Spon Workshop Receipts Ser. i. 124/1 A *pound rocket will admit a leaden bullet that weighs a pound.
1887J. B. Lock Dynamics 31 We shall choose as our unit mass-velocity that of a particle of 1 lb. moving with 1 velo. We shall call this unit a *pound-velo.
[1871J. C. Maxwell Theory of Heat iv. 83 In all countries the first measurements of forces were made in this way, and a force was described as a force of so many *pounds' weight or grammes' weight. 1877W. H. Besant Treat. Hydromech. i. 9 The unit of force is 750 lbs. weight.] 1891J. G. Easton First Bk. Mech. iv. 59 It is sometimes convenient..to speak of a force as of so many pounds weight. 1907Franklin & MacNutt Elem. Mech. viii. 174 (heading) Values of the stretch modulus of various substances. (In pounds-weight per square inch.) 1936A. W. Hirst Electr. & Magn. i. 4 A force of one pound-weight = 32·2 poundals. 1960F. Land Lang. Math. vi. 71 When I buy a pound of apples, the weight of the apples is 1 pound-weight..and its mass is 1 pound mass. 1976Daily Tel. 4 Mar. 2/6 The Metrication Board..warned the Government that unless it introduced a sense of urgency into replacing feet for [sic] metres..and pounds weight for kilogrammes, then the target of 1980 for completion of the programme could never be met.
c1450Godstow Reg. 668 Of the yifte of Robert, Erle of leyceter, thre *pounde-worthe of lond in Halso.
1780A. Young Tour Irel. I. 394 The yarn spun is *pound yarn, not done in hanks at all.
▪ II. pound, n.2|paʊnd|
Forms: 4–5 poonde, 5 ponde, 5–6 pounde, 6 pond, 6–7 pownd(e, 6– pound.
[Not found till near the end of the ME. period:—OE. *pund, known only in comb. pund-fold (in late 12th c. MS.) and early ME. pundbreche (Laws of Hen. I) (see pound-breach), and supported by the derivatives (ᵹe-)pyndan to dam up (water) (K. ælfred), forpyndan to exclude, bar (Cynewulf): see pind v. Origin unknown; the stem has not been certainly traced in any continental language. Of this, pond n. is an anomalous parallel form; many dialects have pound in the sense of pond, and the two forms are used indifferently in sense 4 b in reference to canals.]
I.
1. a. An enclosure maintained by authority, for the detention of stray or trespassing cattle, as well as for the keeping of distrained cattle or goods until redeemed; a pinfold.
The right to impound stray cattle still exists, but in Great Britain the impounder can put the animals in his own stable or field, so that public pounds, being unnecessary, are disappearing.
1425in Somerset Med. Wills (1901) 115 (Latin) [Item to mending the way between the church of Merk and the] pownde 3s. 4d. 1464Rolls of Parlt. V. 559/2 All such distresse..to put in pounde. 1531Dial. on Laws Eng. ii. xxvii. (1638) 113 The owner may lawfully give the beasts meat and drink while they be in pound. a1680Butler Rem. (1759) I. 168 To shut them up, like Beasts in Pounds, For breaking into others Grounds. 1773Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. iv. Wks. (Globe) 668/1 I'd sooner leave my horse in a pound. 1821Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 88 While pinders, that such chances look, Drive his rambling cows to pound. 1837Dickens Pickw. xix, ‘Where am I?’ exclaimed Mr. Pickwick. ‘In the Pound’, replied the mob. 1846Longfellow Pegasus in Pound v, The wise men, in their wisdom, Put him straightway into pound.
b. pound close or pound covert, a pound to which the owner of impounded animals may not have access; pound open or pound overt, a pound which is not roofed, and to which the owner may have access to feed his beasts.
1531Dial. on Laws Eng. ii. xxvii. 76 He that..hath the hurte may take the beestes as a dystresse, and put theym in a pounde ouert. 1554Act 1 & 2 Phil. & Mary c. 12 §1 No Distress of Cattle shall be driven out of the Hundred..except that it be to a Pound overt within the same Shire. 1567Expos. Termes Lawes (1579) 157 b, Poundes are in two sorts, the one pounds open, the other pounds close... Pound Close is such a place, where the owner of the distresse may not come to geue them meat and drinke, with out offence, as in a close house, or whatsoeuer els place. 1768Blackstone Comm. III. i. 13 If a live distress, of animals, be impounded in a common pound overt, the owner must take notice of it at his peril; but if in any special pound-overt, so constituted for this particular purpose, the distreiner must give notice to the owner.
c. An enclosure for sheltering or in any way dealing with sheep or cattle in the aggregate; also, an enclosure in which wild animals are entrapped.
1780A. Young Tour Irel. I. 340 Mr. Irwin spreads it in his pound..for cattle to tread on. 1877J. A. Allen Amer. Bison 472 The rushing of a herd over a precipice or into a pound prepared especially to entrap them. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 227 Two gates leading from the pound at the far end are now taken charge of by the black boys... The gate from the lane is opened and the ‘ragers’..rush fiercely into the pound.
d. An enclosure in which vehicles impounded by the police are kept.
1970P. Laurie Scotland Yard iii. 75 Civilian cars that have been stolen or in accidents..stand in a pound nearby. 1970Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. 39/2 (Advt.), Permanent part time dispatcher for police auto pound, Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights. 1972Daily Tel. 16 Mar. 17/6 The Vauxhall Viva had been towed to a pound because it was found parked on an urban clearway. 1974Times 18 Feb. 17 I'm going to sell my car... No more police towing [it]..to a car pound.
2. transf. and fig. A place of confinement; a pen, a pent-up position; a trap; a prison for debtors or offenders; a spiritual ‘fold’; in Hunting, a position from which escape is impossible or difficult. (See also lob's pound.)
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 421 Pride of men of þe world þat wolen make hem siche poondis, is an oþer rote of consense aȝenus crist lord of þis world. 1557Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 268, I meane where you and all your flocke, Deuise to pen men in the pound. 1575Gascoigne Fruites of Warre xix, Penne vp thy pleasure in Repentance poundes. 1575― Mask for Visct. Mountacute Wks. 49 It pleazed God to helpe his flocke, which thus in pound was pent. 1598B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. ii. i, An' hee thinke to bee relieu'd by me, when he is got into one o' your citie pounds, the Counters. 1677W. Hubbard Narrative 26 The Enemy being by this means brought into a Pound. 1684Otway Atheist iii, Well, since I am trapt thus,..There is no replevin, and I must to pound. 1727Swift Imit. Horace 47, I hurry me in haste away, Not thinking it is levee-day; And find his honour in a pound, Hemm'd by a triple circle round. 1807Wordsw. White Doe vii. 253 The grassy rock-encircled Pound In which the Creature first was found. 1886Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Pound, a position from which escape seems difficult, particularly in hunting. 1887Jefferies Amaryllis xxiv. 183 He's getting into a pound, he really is.
†3.
a. An act or right of pounding (pound v.2 1).
1464Rolls of Parlt. V. 540/2 The Baylewik..with Poundes, Waifes, Strayes, Herbage and Pannage.
†b. A seizure of cattle, etc., in a raid, etc.: cf. poind v. 3. Obs.
c1425Wyntoun Cron. ix. ii. 12 A cumpany gat he And rade in Ingland, for to ta A pownd, and swne it hapnyd sa That he of catale gat a pray.
II.
4. a. A body of still water, usually of artificial formation, a pond. Now dial. b. esp. A body of water held up or confined by a dam or the like, as in a mill-pond (now dial.), the reach of a canal above a lock, etc. (in which sense pond and pound are used indifferently).
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 367 Alisaundre..hadde alle maner bestes in kepyng in hyves, in layes, in fisshe weres and pondes [MS. Cott. Tib. D. vii poundes]. c1450Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 228 Hit is a shrewde pole, pounde, or a well, That drownythe the dowghty. 1535Coverdale Isa. xix. 10 All the poundes of Egipte, all the policie of their Moates & diches shal come to naught. 1684G. Meriton Yorks. Dialogue 132 (E.D.S.) Our awd Meer is slidden into'th Pownd. 1805Z. Allnutt Navig. Thames 29 So many more Pounds and moveable Weirs as were found necessary might be erected. 1891Cotes Two Girls on Barge 46 First a pound and then a lock,..‘pound’ being a canal definition of the level reaches that lie between the locks. 1895Daily News 8 Feb. 3/6 Witness said there were no indications to show that they were approaching a ‘pound’ (lodgment or accumulation of water). a1900E. Smith MS. Collect. Warwicks. Words (E.D.D.), Where there is a separate pool, the water above the dam is called either the mill-dam or the pound.
5. An enclosure for fish.
a. A compartment for stowing fish on board a fishing-vessel.
b. See quot. 1867.
c. A net trap for fish; spec. the last compartment of a pound net, in which the fish are finally caught; the bowl or pocket.
1809Naval Chron. XXI. 21 There are pounds or enclosures made on the deck, for each fisherman to throw in what he catches. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Pound, a lagoon, or space of water, surrounded by reefs and shoals, wherein fish are kept, as at Bermuda. 1873Echo 11 Mar. 2/2 Immense quantities are, however, taken in what are called ‘pounds’. A pound is generally placed on the shallow flats of the bays where fish food is abundant... The fish..enter the pound, and find it impossible to get out again. 1883S. Plimsoll in 19th Cent. July 162 The haddocks..are..stowed away in bulk in ‘pound’ (the pounds are like the stalls in a stable, in the hold of the ship). 1883F. Day Indian Fish 14 (Fish. Exhib. Publ.) Wicker-work labyrinths..acting like a pound in permitting the fish to enter with the flood, but precluding exit with the ebb.
6. attrib. and Comb., as pound like adj.; pound-boat, a flat-bottomed centre-board boat used on Lake Erie for carrying fish from the nets (Cent. Dict. 1890); pound-fee, a fee paid for the release of cattle or goods from the pound; † poundlose, setting free or release from the pound: cf. loose n. 5; poundman, one employed in weir or pound fishing; pound-master, = pound-keeper; pound net, an enclosure formed by nets in the sea near the shore, consisting of a long straight wall or leader, a first enclosure (the ‘heart’), into which the fish are conducted by the leader, and a second enclosure (the pound, bowl, or pocket), from which they cannot escape; pound scoop, a scoop used in collecting fish from a pound (Cent. Dict. 1890).
1884Bull. U.S. Nat. Museum No. 27. 700 Lake Erie *pound boat... Their peculiar construction enables them to carry large quantities of fish in shallow water and to lift the bowl of the pounds without upsetting. 1891Rep. U.S. Comm. Fisheries 1887 27 The pound-boat has two tall, tapering masts.
1878Aylward Transvaal of To-Day ii. (1881) 27 English settlers have been known in a poor neighbourhood to live almost entirely from *pound-fees and mileage, earned by continual..intermeddling with their neighbours' herds.
1898Westm. Gaz. 20 Jan. 5/2 A corner is boarded off in a sort of *pound-like manner.
1622in Naworth Househ. Bks. (Surtees) 197 For *poundlose of viij of the tenants' horses, iijs.
1888Goode Amer. Fishes 222 The *poundmen..sometimes eat them and consider them better than scup.
1792Southampton (N.Y.) Records (1878) III. 335 John Cooper Samuel Cooper Henry Corwithe *Poundmasters. 1897Outing (U.S.) XXIX. 537/1 You get my vote the next time you run for poundmaster.
1865Michigan Gen. Statutes (1882) I. 577 The penalties of this section shall not apply or work injury to persons who are the present owners of *pound or trap nets. 1883Goode Fish. Indust. U.S. 12 Introduction of pound-nets or stake-nets along the sandy coasts of the Atlantic and its estuaries for the capture of the migrating summer shoals. 1897Outing (U.S.) XXX. 362/1 One of the greatest nuisances..that a seafaring man can meet with, and that is pound-nets. They lined the American shore far out into the lake. 1973Fisheries Fact Sheet (Environment Canada Fisheries & Marine Service) No. 1. 4/3 Gill-nets and pound-nets are the chief gear.
▪ III. pound, n.3|paʊnd|
[f. pound v.1]
I.
†1. A pounding; pl. that which has been pounded. Obs. rare.
1562Turner Herbal ii. 46 The poundes of the rootes [of Mandrag] must be put into a small firkin of swete wyne.
2. An apparatus for pounding or crushing apples for cider; a cider-mill.
1832Trans. Provinc. Med. & Surg. Assoc. ii. VI. 202 This mischievous part of the pound [i.e. lead basins used in cider presses] is now almost universally exploded, and in their place wooden ones are substituted. 1886Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Pound,..a mill in which to grind the apples for making cider.
II.
3. A mark caused by a severe blow; a bruise, a contusion.
1862Campion Alice 35 [He] would frequently return [from a combat at fisticuffs] in a deluge of gore and all over pounds and bruises.
4. A heavy beating blow; a thump; also, the sound caused by this, a thud.
1890in Cent. Dict. 1901Daily Chron. 7 June 4/1 The breathless shout, the pound of hoofs—‘The Favourite! Favourite wins!’
▪ IV. pound, v.1|paʊnd|
Forms: α. 1 púnian, -iᵹean, 4–7 poune, powne, (4–5 pone, 8–9 Sc. poon). β. 6–7 punne, 6– pun (see also pun v.). γ. 6– pound (9 dial. pund).
[OE. púnian (also ᵹepúnian, ME. ipone):—WGer. *pûnôjan, stem pûn-, whence also Du. † puyn, mod. puin ‘rubbish, trash or cyment of stones’ (Hexham), LG. pün chips of stone, building rubbish (Doorn.-Koolman). For the final d, cf. astound v., bound ppl. a.1, etc.]
1. a. trans. To break down and crush by beating, as with a pestle; to reduce to pulp or powder; to bray, bruise, pulverize, triturate.
αc1000Sax. Leechd. I. 176 ᵹenim þas ylcan wyrte uerbascum ᵹecnucude [v.r. ᵹepunude]. a1050Liber Scintill. xxiv. (1889) 95 Þeah þu puniᵹe [contuderis] stuntne on pil(an) swylce berenhula puniᵹendum [feriente] bufan punere [pilo] na byð afyrred fram him dysiᵹnyss his. c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 89 As spicerye ȝyveþ smell whan it is powned. 1382― Matt. xxi. 44 Vpon whom it [this stone] shal falle, it shal togidre poune hym [1388 to-brise hym]. 1578Lyte Dodoens i. i. 3 Sothrenwood pounde with a rosted Quince, and laide to the eyes. 1616Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 41 Powne and temper them altogether. 1620Venner Via Recta (1650) 126 Grots pouned and sifted or strained therein. 1658J. Jones Ovid's Ibis 138 Anaxarchus..being condemned..to be pound with iron pestels in a morter.
β1559Morwyng Evonym. 132 Then punne it in a morter. Ibid. 286 Pun them that be to be pund. 1600Heywood 1st Pt. Edw. IV, i. ii, The honestest lad that ever pund spice in a mortar. 1662H. Stubbe Ind. Nectar ii. 8 Cacao nut, punned, and dissolved in water.
γ1594Southwell M. Magd. Fun. Teares (1823) 120 To feele more of their sweetnesse, I will pound these spices. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 138 The Peasant..who pounds with Rakes The crumbling Clods. 1765A. Dickson Treat. Agric. 477 Let him..dry them, and pound them in a mortar. 1828Craven Gloss., Pund, to pound. 1830M. Donovan Dom. Econ. I. 315 After the apples have been pressed, they may be economically pounded a second time. 1865Lubbock Preh. Times xiii, A flat stone to pound roots with.
b. fig.
1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 78 The word of God is not preached vnto them, and as it were braied, punned, interpreted, and expounded. 1618Bolton Florus (1636) 101 He therefore so ground and punned Annibal, by coasting him thorow all Samnium. a1677Barrow Serm. Wks. 1716 II. 80 To think a gross body may be ground and pounded into rationality. 1884Nonconf. & Indep. 12 June 570/1 The Lord Advocate..pounded it [the Bill] to powder.
2. a. To strike severely with the fists or some heavy instrument; to strike or beat with repeated heavy blows; to thump, to pummel. Also fig.
α, β1790A. Wilson Pack Poet. Wks. (1846) 29 John swore that he wad poon you [rimes aboon you, spoon you]. 1903in Eng. Dial. Dict. in form pounn in Herefordsh., pown in E. Lanc., poon (pun), pun, punn, poan, from Cumbld. to Glouc. and Leicester.
γ1700Dryden Ceyx & Alcyone 392 With cruel blows she pounds her blubber'd cheeks. 1795Wolcott (P. Pindar) Pindariana Wks. 1812 IV. 199 Pounds thy pate. 1839Thackeray Fatal Boots Wks. (1869) 386, I stood pounding him with my satire. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i. vi, The big boys who sit at the tables pound them and cheer. 1858Col. K. Young Diary & Corr. (1902) App. 328 We pounded your regiment the other day. 1874Symonds Sk. Italy & Greece (1898) I. ix. 176 Horsed sea deities pounding one another with bunches of fish. 1875Le Fanu Will. Die xxviii, I danced every day, and pounded a piano, and sang a little. 1877Clery Min. Tact. xiv. (ed. 3) 189 To hang closely on their rear, pounding them with light guns. 1908Smart Set June 21/2 She stopped at the door of the house and pounded the knocker vigorously. 1951Amer. Speech XXVI. 230/2 St. Joseph pounds Mansfield. 1960M. Spark Bachelors xii. 224 The typist in the corner listlessly pounded her silent machine. 1967Boston Sunday Globe 23 Apr. 17/4 Air Force and Navy jets pounded North Vietnam in 118 missions Friday. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 5 Feb. 17/4 Detroit..pounded Minnesota North Stars 8–1. 1972‘E. Ferrars’ Breath of Suspicion vii. 101 I'll be working..pounding my typewriter.
b. with advb. extension. To knock (something) in, out, etc., by pounding; to hammer, beat.
1875Ruskin Fors Clav. li. 53 My foolishness is being pounded out of me. 1884Pall Mall G. 16 Oct. 2/2 The fortifications might be pounded to pieces. 1891Kipling Light that Failed xi. (1900) 193 The big drum pounded out the tune. 1898L. Stephen Stud. Biog. II. v. 182 He must not simply state a reason, but pound it into a thick head by repetition.
c. U.S. Stock Exch. To beat down the price of (stock); = hammer v. 2 d (b).
1901Munsey's Mag. XXIV. 522/1 The bears let the opportunity to pound securities go by the board.
d. phr. to pound one's ear: to sleep. slang (orig. U.S.).
1899‘J. Flynt’ Tramping with Tramps iv. 396 Pound the ear, to sleep. 1900Dialect Notes II. 51 [College slang] ‘Pound one's ear, or one's pillow,’ to sleep. 1907[see flop v. 2 c]. 1926M. Walsh Key above Door xii. 128 ‘Only just awakened,’ I admitted..‘and how are my comrades in misfortune?’.. ‘Still pounding their ears, no doubt.’ 1927C. Samolar in Amer. Speech II. 290/2 To sleep is to pound the ear. I think this phrase originated with railroaders. Sleeping in a caboose on a fast-moving train actually consists of pounding one's ear. 1947J. Steinbeck Wayward Bus xx. 300 Listen to the old bastard snore. He's pounding his ear.
e. To produce or turn out by ‘pounding’ a typewriter or the like.
1904F. Lynde Grafters v. 58 He sat down at the typewriter to pound out a letter to the general counsel, resigning his sinecure. 1941B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? ix. 162, I was back in the old groove, pounding it out for the Record again. 1973W. McCarthy Detail i. 48 He had just enough time to pound out two or three short paragraphs.
f. To walk upon; to cover (a distance or area) on foot; spec. of a policeman: to patrol (a beat). colloq. (orig. U.S.).
In quot. 1959 the use is fig. in punning allusion to the poetry of Ezra Pound (see Poundian a.).
1906A. H. Lewis Confessions of Detective iv. 44 It's worth while to pound a beat, when one has such kindly and appreciative superiors. 1909‘O. Henry’ Options (1916) 30 I'm pounding the asphalt for another job. 1923L. J. Vance Baroque vi. 33, I won't get sent back to pound sidewalks for what I'm pulling off tonight. 1935A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 91/1 Pounding the pavement, a prostitute soliciting men on the street. 1946[see kriegie]. 1959Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Sept. 546/5 An awful warning to any future translator tempted to indulge in the pleasures of what, metrically speaking, might be described as Pounding the beat. 1974S. Marcus Minding Store (1975) ii. 26 He personally pounded the pavements calling on fellow businessmen. 1978J. Gardner Dancing Dodo xxxiv. 270, I shall personally arrange for you to be back pounding the beat, in uniform.
†3. With inverted construction: To deliver (heavy blows) on some one. Obs. rare—1.
1596Spenser F.Q. iv. iv. 31 An hundred knights..All which at once huge strokes on him did pound, In hope to take him prisoner, where he stood on ground.
4. a. intr. To beat or knock heavily, deliver heavy blows, fire heavy shot (at, on). pound away, to continue delivering blows; to hammer away.
1815[see pounding vbl. n.1 2]. 1858–9Russell Diary India (1860) I. 292, I found all our guns pounding at the Martinière. 1860Emerson Cond. Life, Power Wks. (Bohn) II. 340 The chief engineer pounded with a hammer on the trunnions of a cannon, until he broke them off. 1885Manch. Exam. 20 Feb. 5/2 The Opposition are anxious to have their great guns in the Upper Chamber pounding away at the same time. 1885R. L. & F. Stevenson Dynamiter ii, Within the lodging-house feet pounded on the stairs. 1895Hare Story of Life (1900) VI. xxx. 400 An electric piano..goes on pounding away by itself. 1901H. Harland Com. & Err. 60 Ferdinand Augustus's heart began to pound.
fig.1861J. R. Green Lett. (1901) ii. 73, I spent the bulk of yesterday pounding at Dunstan in the British Museum.
b. Of a ship or boat: To beat the water, rise and fall heavily.
1903Daily Mail 21 Aug. 5/7 The sea had become rough, causing the boats to pound considerably. 1906Westm. Gaz. 21 Aug. 7/2 The wreck of the ‘Manchuria’... The vessel is lying far inside the reef, and is pounding heavily.
5. intr. To walk, run, or dance with heavy steps that beat or pulverize the ground; to ride hard and heavily; transf. of a steamer, to force its way through the water, paddle or steam along forcibly.
1802M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1806) I. viii. 51 ‘Look at that absurd creature!’ exclaimed Forester, pointing out..a girl, who was footing and pounding for fame at a prodigious rate. 1848Kingsley Yeast i, A fat farmer, sedulously pounding through the mud. 1852R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour l, He thought he saw [him]..pounding away on the chestnut [horse]. 1865Dublin Univ. Mag. II. 20 So he pounds along sitting well down in his saddle. 1880M. E. Braddon Just as I am xviii, I am not going to pound over half the county in a futile endeavour to come up with the hounds. 1898G. W. E. Russell Collect. & Recoll. xxxiv. 458 Cantering up St. James's Street..or pounding round Hyde Park. 1898Daily News 23 July 7/1 She [a steamer] pounded along splendidly at over 20 knots an hour.
6. trans. To consolidate by beating, to beat hard; esp. in technical use in form pun, to ram down (earth, clay, or rubble) as in making a roadway or embankment: see pun v.1
1850Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XI. ii. 706 The cows so thoroughly ‘pound’ the ground that in summer it is in many parts as hard as a brick.
▪ V. pound, v.2|paʊnd|
Also 5 pown, 7 poun.
[f. pound n.2 Cf. pind v., poind v.]
1. trans. To place or shut up (trespassing or straying cattle) in a pound; to impound.
c1450Oseney Regr. 44 That þey [bestes] be not Inparkid or pownyd but þey be i-founde in open harme [cf. ibid. 24 inparked or y-poyned; ibid. 86 imparkid or poyned]. 1530Palsgr. 663/2, I pounde, I put horse, or beestes in the pynfolde. 1673[R. Leigh] Transp. Reh. 124 They exercise a petty royalty in..pounding beasts. a1711Ken Urania Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 503 Your Neighbour Swains the Trespassers will pound. 1819Metropolis II. 205 Law⁓suits for trespass, for poaching, pounding cattle,..give him notoriety in the country. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 87 We must not go more than half a mile away from the road, or we [i.e. our cattle] 'll be 'pounded.
fig.1581Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 69 Me thinkes I deserue to be pounded, for straying from Poetrie to Oratorie. 1719D'Urfey Pills (1872) V. 179 For the Heart that still wanders, is pounded at last.
2. To shut up or confine in any enclosure or within any bounds or limits, material or otherwise. Also with up. Also fig.
1589Nashe Pref. Greene's Menaphon (Arb.) 12 Euen so these men..do pound their capacitie in barren Compendiums. 1608Heywood Rape Lucrece iii. iv, Sit round: the enemy is pounded fast In their own folds. 1632Massinger & Field Fatal Dowry iv. i, Married once, A man is staked or poun'd, and cannot graze Beyond his own hedge. a1639Wotton in Reliq. (1651) 364 More might be said, if I were not pounded within an Epistle. 1644Milton Areop. (Arb.) 48 That gallant man who thought to pound up the crows by shutting his Parkgate. 1761Colman Jealous Wife ii. i. (1775) 22, I wish Harriot was fairly pounded [= married]. It wou'd save us both a great deal of Trouble. 1776Remembrancer (1777) IV. 272/2 Hopkins, and his little navy, are safely pounded in Providence river, near Rhode Island. 1839Bailey Festus xxvii. (1848) 323 And the round wall of madness pound us in.
b. spec. in Fox-hunting (pass.), said of a rider who gets into an enclosed place from which he cannot get out to follow the chase. to pound the field: see quot. 1886.
1827Sporting Mag. XIX. 353 The whole field [i.e. the assemblage of riders] was fairly pounded. 1860G. J. Whyte-Melville Mkt. Harb. xvi. 135 Whenever one individual succeeds either in what is termed pounding a field, or in getting such a start of them that nobody shall have a chance of catching him whilst the pace holds. 1875― Riding Recoll. viii. (1879) 131 A man who never jumps at all can by no possibility be ‘pounded’. 1886Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. s.v., In hunting, an impassable barrier is said ‘to pound the field’. So also a bold rider who clears a fence which others cannot do is said ‘to pound the lot’.
fig.1853‘C. Bede’ Verdant Green ix, The pounding of the same gentleman in the middle of the first chorus. 1864Daily Tel. 27 Aug., The Marquis, however, in following his leader over the agricultural plough, got..pounded with him in the political field.
3. To dam (water); dam up. Now chiefly dial.
1649W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1652) b ij b, Watermills, which destroy abundance of gallant Land, by pounding up the water..even to the very top of the ground. 1770J. Brindley Surv. Thames 1 If they be made to pound more than five or six Feet, some of the adjacent Lands will be laid under Water. 1792Trans. Soc. Arts X. 119 Which occasioned a fall for the water to run off, and prevented its being pounded up. 1879G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. s.v. Pounded, They'n bin gropin' fur trout I spect, I see the bruck's pounded.
4. to pound off, to partition off into compartments: cf. pound n.2 5 a.
1887Fisheries of U.S. Sect. v. II. 426 In the hair-seal fishery, on the coast of Newfoundland, the vessel's hold is ‘pounded off’ into bins only a little larger than the skins.
Hence ˈpounded ppl. a.; ˈpounding vbl. n.
1621Quarles Argalus & P. (1678) 44 Here's none that can reprieve Such pounded beasts. 1641Boston Rec. (1877) II. 60 The same hogg or swine..not to be fetched thence untill full satisfaction be made..for pounding and for carege. 1791R. Mylne Rep. Thames & Isis 29 The Pounding of the water by the New Locks.
▪ VI. pound, v.3
[f. pound n.1 1.]
†1. trans. To weigh. Obs. rare—0.
1570Levins Manip. 220/45 To Pound, ponderare.
2. Coining. To test the weight of coins (or of the blanks to be minted) by weighing the number of these which ought to make a pound weight (or a certain number of pounds), and ascertaining how much they vary from the standard.
From the earliest times, in the Indenture under which the Master of the Royal Mint produced coins for the King, a limit was assigned within which the weight was to be maintained; and as it was impossible to make every coin of the exact weight, it was customary, before 1870, to fix the number of grains variation permissible in each pound weight, taken at random from the mass of coins, this variation being termed ‘remedy for the Master’. Thus, for gold coins, in which 20 troy pounds of standard gold made 934½ sovereigns, the Indenture of 1817 allows a margin of ‘twelve grains in the pound weight and no more’. By the Coinage Act of 1870, the ‘remedy’ was fixed on the piece, as 1/5 grain on each sovereign, each of which is now separately tested by an automatic weighing apparatus of great delicacy.
1890Cent. Dict. s.v., Pounding in coining. 1907Let. fr. Royal Mint, The present law is far more stringent, but (for particular purposes) we still constantly resort to pounding in the Mint, and always in the case of bronze coins.
3. To weigh out or divide into pounds. local.
1876Whitby Gloss., Punded, divided into pounds. 1886Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Pound,..to make up into pats or parcels each of 1 lb. weight.
▪ VII. pound, v.4 slang.
[f. pound n.1 3.]
To bet a pound, or an extravagant amount, on; esp. in phr. to pound it, to wager pounds in long odds; hence, to state as a certainty or strong conviction.
1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Pound it, to ensure or make a certainty of any thing: thus a man will say I'll pound it to be so; taken, probably from the custom of..offering ten pounds to a crown at a cock-match, in which case, if no person takes this extravagant odds, the battle is at an end. This is termed pounding a cock. 1828Bee Living Pict. London ii. 44 You'll soon be bowled out, I'll pound it. 1838Dickens O. Twist xxvi, I'll pound it, that Barney's managing properly. 1865― Mut. Fr. iv. xv, I'll pound it, Master, to be in the way of school.
Hence ˈpoundable a.: see quot.
1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Poundable, any event which is considered certain or inevitable, is declared to be poundable, as the issue of a game, the success of a bet, &c. |