avoirdupois

Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Financial, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

Related to avoirdupois: Avoirdupois system, avoirdupois ounce

av·oir·du·pois

(av'er-du-poyz'),

A system of weights in which 16 ounces make 1 pound, equivalent to 453.59237 g. See Weights and Measures Appendix.

[Fr. to have weight, corrupted fr. O. Fr. avoir, property, + de, of, + pois, weight]

avoirdupois

/av·oir·du·pois/ (av″er-dah-poiz´) (av-wahr″doo-pwah´) see under weight.

av·oir·du·pois

(av'wahr-dū-pwah')

A system of weights in which 16 oz make a pound, equivalent of 453.59237 g. See Weights and Measures appendix.

[Fr. to have weight, corrupted fr. O. Fr. avoir, property, + de, of, + pois, weight]

avoirdupois

a system of weight used in English-speaking countries for all commodities except drugs, precious stones and precious metals. See also Table 4.1. Now largely superseded by the metric system.

References in periodicals archive ?

for bullion remains but is now (W & M Act 1985) not defined in grains but as 12/175 of the Avoirdupois pound.

The evolution of weighing

Strangely, while there is a unique weight for precious metal in the troy ounce, as opposed to the avoirdupois ounce, there is none for wine.

Accessories for wine are a real corker

One, from the avoirdupois system, has our familiar 7,000-grain pound.

GRAIN AND GRAIN! What Is Grain?

Then, as now, there was a drive to raise public awareness of the dangers of carrying around any excess avoirdupois, and a great many people who were overweight flocked to the Lancaster Medical Clinic.

LONGTIME NURSE RECALLS THIN TIME

John 'Two Jags' Prescott has the avoirdupois of a country squire not averse to brandishing a cudgel or two in support of his claim to a rotten borough seat in Westminster.

For a cleaner, whiter election..

The London victor took the Chicago race (Sunday Grandstand, BBC1) for the fourth time, but nobody suggested extra avoirdupois, leg-irons or whatever.