unit

1. a mechanical part or integrated assembly of parts that performs a subsidiary function

2. a complete system, apparatus, or establishment that performs a specific function

3. the amount of a drug, vaccine, etc., needed to produce a particular effect

4. a standard measure used in calculating alcohol intake and its effect

5. Maths

a. the first position in a place-value counting system, representing a single-digit number

b. having a value defined as one for the system

6. Maths logic a set having a single member

7. NZ a self-propelled railcar
www.psigate.ac.uk/newsite/reference/units.html
www.ex.ac.uk/cimt/dictunit/dictunit.htm
www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/index.html

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

unit

[′yü·nət]

(engineering)

An assembly or device capable of independent operation, such as a radio receiver, cathode-ray oscilloscope, or computer subassembly that performs some inclusive operation or function.

(mathematics)

An element of a ring with identity that has both a left inverse and a right inverse.

(ordnance)

Any military element whose structure is prescribed by competent authority, such as a table of organization and equipment; specifically, part of an organization.

A standard of basic quantity into which an item of supply is divided, issued, or used.

(physics)

A quantity adopted as a standard of measurement.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Unit

in technology, a consolidated unified (normalized) assembly of a machine or complex of machines that possesses complete interchangeability and independently accomplishes isolated functions. A unit is characterized by electric motors, reducers, pumps and so forth. Sometimes the term “unit” refers to a combination of two or more machines.

Unit

In the theory of algebraic numbers and in the theory of algebraic functions, a divisor of unity is called a unit, that is, a is a unit if there exists an element b such that ab = 1.