pound

pound
\ \ English has three distinct words pound.
\ \ The measure of weight and unit of currency [OE] goes back ultimately to Latin pondō12- ounce weight’, a relative of pondusweight’ (source of English ponder) and pendereweigh’ (source of English pension and poise). It was borrowed into prehistoric Germanic as *pundo, which has evolved into German pfund. Dutch pond, Swedish pund, and English pound. Its monetary use comes from the notion of a ‘pound’ weight of silver. Poundenclosure’ [14] is of unknown origin.
\ \ It existed in Old English times in the compound pundfald, which has become modern English pinfold, and pond is a variant form of it. Poundcrush’ [OE] is almost equally mysterious. In Old English it was pūnian (it did not acquire its final d until the 16th century, in fact), and it has been traced back to a Germanic *pūn-, which also produced Dutch puinrubbish’.
\ \ Cf.PENDANT, PENSION, POISE, PONDER; PINFOLD, POND

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Pound — may refer to:Units*Pound (currency), a unit of currency in various countries *Pound sign, £ *Pound sterling, the fundamental unit of currency in Great Britain * Pound (force), a unit of force *Pound (mass), various units of mass *Number sign, #,… …   Wikipedia

  • POUND (E.) — Critique, traducteur, poète, Pound a marqué la poésie américaine contemporaine de son empreinte: nul n’a échappé à son influence. L’œuvre de Pound, tendue et intransigeante, assure à la poésie américaine continuité et permanence; de même qu’elle… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • pound — pound1 [pound] n. pl. pounds; sometimes, after a number, pound [ME < OE pund, akin to Ger pfund: WGmc loanword < L pondo, a pound, orig. abl. of pondus, weight (in libra pondo, a pound in weight), akin to pendere: see PENDANT] 1. a) the… …   English World dictionary

  • pound — [paʊnd] noun [countable] 1. written abbreviation £ the standard unit of currency in Britain, which is divided into 100 pence: • a twenty pound note • a shortfall of millions of pounds 2. the (British) pound the value of the British currency… …   Financial and business terms

  • Pound — (engl. für ‚Pfund‘) steht für: pound (anglo amerikanische Gewichtseinheit) Pfund Sterling, die aktuelle britische Währung Pound (Software), eine Load Balancing Software £ oder ₤, das Pfundzeichen Pound ist der Name folgender Personen: Caspar… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • pound — ● pound nom féminin Unité fondamentale britannique de masse (symbole lb). [La pound, dont le nom français correspondant est livre, est l unité d où sont dérivées les autres. C est la masse d un étalon en platine, l « Imperial Standard Pound »,… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Pound — 〈[ paʊnd] n.; s, od. s; 〉 engl. Gewichtseinheit, 453,6 g * * * Pound [paʊnd], das; , s [engl. pound, eigtl. = Pfund, < aengl. pund < lat. pondo, ↑ Pfund]: englische Gewichtseinheit (453,60 g; Abk.: lb. [Sg.], lbs. [Pl.]). * * * I …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Pound — Pound, n.; pl. {Pounds}, collectively {Pound} or {Pounds}. [AS. pund, fr. L. pondo, akin to pondus a weight, pendere to weigh. See {Pendant}.] 1. A certain specified weight; especially, a legal standard consisting of an established number of… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Pound — Pound, n.; pl. {Pounds}, collectively {Pound} or {Pounds}. [AS. pund, fr. L. pondo, akin to pondus a weight, pendere to weigh. See {Pendant}.] 1. A certain specified weight; especially, a legal standard consisting of an established number of… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • pound — Ⅰ. pound [1] ► NOUN 1) a unit of weight equal to 16 oz avoirdupois (0.4536 kg), or 12 oz troy (0.3732 kg). 2) (also pound sterling) (pl. pounds sterling) the basic monetary unit of the UK, equal to 100 pence. 3) another term for PUNT(Cf. ↑ …   English terms dictionary

  • Pound — Pound, n. [AS. pund an inclosure: cf. forpyndan to turn away, or to repress, also Icel. pynda to extort, torment, Ir. pont, pond, pound. Cf. {Pinder}, {Pinfold}, {Pin} to inclose, {Pond}.] 1. An inclosure, maintained by public authority, in which …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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