| 释义 |
▪ I. avoirdupois|ˌævədəˈpɔɪz|
Forms: 4 auoirdepeise, auer de peis, 4–7 avoir de pois, 5 haberdepase, 6 auerdepaise, auer de poiz, haberdepoys, -poise, 6–7 hauer de pois, haberde-pois, 7 averdepois, aver-, haberdupois(e, haverdupois(e, 8 hauer-du-pois, 7– avoirdupois.
[A recent corrupt spelling of avoir-de-pois, in early OF. and AF. aveir de peis ‘goods of weight,’ f. OF. avoir, aveir, property, goods, aver, de of, pois, peis (= Pr. pes, pens, It. peso):—L. *pēsum, pensum, weight. The first word had the variant forms of the simple aver, and the pronunciation remains ˈaver; the Norman peis was from 1300 varied with, and c 1500 superseded by, the Parisian pois. The best modern spelling is the 17th c. averdepois; in any case de ought to be restored for du, introduced by some ignorant ‘improver’ c 1640–1650.]
†1. Merchandise sold by weight. Obs. (c 1600.)
c1300E.E.P. (1862) 154 Ȝur gret packes of draperie, auoir-depeise, and ȝur wol sackes. 1388Wyclif Ezek. xxvii. 16 Thei settiden forth in thi marcat gemme, and purpur..and cochod, ether auer de peis [1382 chodchod, that is, precious marchaundise]. [1392Act 16 Rich. II, i. §2 Toutz marchants..qe achater ou vendre voillont bledz, vinz, avoir de pois, char, pesson, & toutz autres vivres & vitails.] 1502transl. in Arnold Chron. (1811) 34 Cornes, wynes, auerdepaise, flesh, fishe, or odur vitayles. 1598Hakluyt Voy. I. 137 To exercise other marchandises, as of Hauer de pois, and other fine wares, as sarcenets, lawnes, cindalles, and silke. 1618Pulton tr. Act 27 Edw. III, Staple x, That Wools, and all manner auoir de pois, be weighed by the ballance. 1691Blount Law Dict., Avoir du Pois..signifies such Merchandises as are weighed by this weight, and not by Troy-weight.
2. (More fully avoirdupois weight) The standard system of weights used, in Great Britain, for all goods except the precious metals, precious stones, and medicines.
The a. pound contains 7000 grains. The a. weight of the United States agrees with that of Great Britain in the pound, ounce, and dram; but the hundredweight contains in U.S. 100, in G.B. 112 lbs., and the ton of 20 cwt. differs accordingly.
1485Inv. in Ripon Ch. Acts 367, j par balance cum ponderibus de haberdepase. 1532–3Act 24 Hen. VIII, iii, Lawfull weyght, called haberdepois. 1543Recorde Gr. Artes (1575) 202 An other waight called Haberdepoise, in whiche 16 ounces make a pounde. 1594Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 7 Vveightes that may agree vvith the auer de poiz. 1619Dalton Countr. Just. lxv. (1630) 143 In this Averdepois weight..112 pounds make a hundred weight. 1631R. Brathwait Whimzies 16 A trite discourse of weights and measures: most ponderously dividing them into troy and averdepois. 1647Ward Simp. Cobler (1843) 39 Weigh Rules by Troyweight, and not by the old Haber-du-pois. 1650B. Discollim. 16 Weighed..at the..publick beam..not at..every Shop-keeper's Aver⁓du-pois. 1656W. Dugard Gate Lat. Unl. §536 Avoir-du-pois, wherewith wares are bought and sold. 1667E. King in Phil. Trans. II. 450, 49 ounces (Haver de pois weight) of blood. 1669Boyle Cont. New Exp. i. xxxiii. (1682) 112 Haberdupoise weight. 1701J. Jones in A. J. Ellis E.E. Pronunc. i. iii. 220, h may be sounded in halleluiah, habiliment, hauer-du-pois, etc. 1755Phil. Trans. XLIX. 184 So great a weight as twenty-six pounds avoirdupoize. 1806Vince Hydrost. ii. 21 A cubic foot of rain water weighs 1000 ounces avoirdupoise. 1831Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. viii, The weakest can stand under thirty stone avoirdupois.
3. Weight; degree of heaviness. (Common in U.S.)
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 276 The weight of an hayre will turne the Scales betweene their Haber-de-pois. 1680Hon. Cavalier 26 To make it more than Aver-du-pois. 1883Atl. Monthly May (Football), Avoirdupois and strength are at a premium for rushing, blocking, and tackling.
▪ II. avoirdupois, v. rare—1.
(as prec.)
[f. the n.]
To have the avoirdupois weight of, to weigh.
1854Badham Halieut. 231 A huge African fish..has been known to avoirdupoise one hundred and forty pounds. |