pound
pound, abbr. lb, unit of either
mass or
force in the customary system of
English units of measurement. Two different pounds of mass are defined, one in the avoirdupois system of units and one in the Troy system. The avoirdupois pound (lb avdp) is now defined in terms of the
kilogram, the metric unit of mass; 1 lb avdp is equal to 0.45359237 kg. The Troy pound is used only for the measurement of precious metals and is defined as 5760/7000 of the avoirdupois pound. The apothecaries' pound is identical to the Troy pound. As a unit of force, or weight, the pound is the weight that a mass of 1 lb avdp has when the acceleration of gravity has its standard value (9.80665 meters per second per second). In ordinary usage, the term
pound is often used without specifying whether force or mass is meant, but for scientific purposes it is important to make this distinction.
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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Pound
(in Russian, funt). (1) A unit of weight in the Russian system of measures that was abolished in 1918. One Russian avoirdupois pound was equal to 1/40 pood = 32 loty = 96 zolotniky = 9,216 doli = 0.40951241 kg. A prototype kept at the Central Board of Weights and Measures served as the standard Russian pound. In Russia, the apothecaries’ pound (seeAPOTHECARIES’ WEIGHT) was also used; it was equal to 7/8 of an avoirdupois pound, that is, to 0.35832336 kg.
(2) A major unit in the English system of measures; abbreviated lb. One avoirdupois pound equals 0.45359237 kg. The pound is divided into 16 ounces, into 16 × 16 = 256 drams, and into 7,000 grains. In addition to the avoirdupois pound, the apothecaries’ pound and the troy pound are used in the USA, Great Britain, and a number of other countries. Both the apothecaries’ pound and the troy pound are equal to 0.37324177 kg.
Pound
a monetary unit of several countries, including the Arab Republic of Egypt (1 Egyptian pound = 100 piasters = 1,000 milliemes), Israel (1 Israeli pound = 100 agorot), Ireland (1 Irish pound = 100 pence), Lebanon and Syria (1 Lebanese or Syrian pound = 100 piasters), Cyprus, the Sudan, Malta, and Gibraltar. According to the September 1977 exchange rate of the State Bank of the USSR, 100 Syrian pounds equal 18 rubles 82 kopeks, 1 Egyptian pound equals 1 ruble 85 kopeks, 100 Lebanese pounds equal 23 rubles 50 kopeks, and 1 Sudanese pound equals 2 rubles 14 kopeks.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
pound
[pau̇nd] (mechanics)
A unit of mass in the English absolute system of units, equal to 0.45359237 kilogram. Abbreviated lb. Also known as avoirdupois pound; pound mass.
A unit of force in the English gravitational system of units, equal to the gravitational force experienced by a pound mass when the acceleration of gravity has its standard value of 9.80665 meters per second per second (approximately 32.1740 ft/s2) equal to 4.4482216152605 newtons. Abbreviated lb. Also spelled Pound (Lb). Also known as pound force (lbf).
A unit of mass in the troy and apothecaries' systems, equal to 12 troy or apothecaries' ounces, or 5760 grains, or 5760/7000 avoirdupois pound, or 0.3732417216 kilogram. Also known as apothecaries' pound (abbreviated lb ap in the United States or lb apoth in the United Kingdom); troy pound (abbreviated lb t in the United States, or lb tr or lb in the United Kingdom).
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
pound
11. an avoirdupois unit of weight that is divided into 16 ounces and is equal to 0.453 592 kilograms
2. a troy unit of weight divided into 12 ounces equal to 0.373 242 kilograms
3. an apothecaries' unit of weight, used in the US, that is divided into 5760 grains and is equal to one pound troy
4. a unit of force equal to the mass of 1 pound avoirdupois where the acceleration of free fall is 32.174 feet per second per second
5. a. the standard monetary unit of the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, and various UK overseas territories, divided into 100 pence
b. (as modifier): a pound coin
6. the standard monetary unit of the following countries
a. Cyprus: divided into 100 cents
b. Egypt: divided into 100 piastres
c. Lebanon: divided into 100 piastres
d. Syria: divided into 100 piastres
8. a former Scottish monetary unit originally worth an English pound but later declining in value to 1 shilling 8 pence
9. the former standard monetary unit of the Republic of Ireland, divided into 100 pence; replaced by the euro in 2002
10. a former monetary unit of the Sudan replaced by the dinar in 1992
pound
2 an enclosure, esp one maintained by a public authority, for keeping officially removed vehicles or distrained goods or animals, esp stray dogs
Pound
Ezra (Loomis). 1885--1972, US poet, translator, and critic, living in Europe. Indicted for treason by the US government (1945) for pro-Fascist broadcasts during World War II, he was committed to a mental hospital until 1958. He was a founder of imagism and championed the early work of such writers as T. S. Eliot, Joyce, and Hemingway. His life work, the Cantos (1925--70), is an unfinished sequence of poems, which incorporates mythological and historical materials in several languages as well as political, economic, and autobiographical elements
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005