ounce

nounnouncommon in dialogue

//aʊns//

An avoirdupois ounce, weighing ¹⁄₁₆ of an avoirdupois pound, or 28.349523125 grams.

noun

1
An avoirdupois ounce, weighing ¹⁄₁₆ of an avoirdupois pound, or 28.349523125 grams.
2
A troy ounce, weighing ¹⁄₁₂ of a troy pound, or 480 grains, or 31.1034768 grams.
3
A US fluid ounce, with a volume of ¹⁄₁₆ of a US pint, 1.804688 cubic inches or 29.5735295625 millilitres.
4
A British imperial fluid ounce, with a volume of ¹⁄₂₀ of an imperial pint, 1.733871 cubic inches or 28.4130625 millilitres.
5
figurativeAny small amount, a little bit.
He didn't feel even an ounce of regret for his actions.

Etymology

From Middle English ounce, unce, from Middle French once, from Latin uncia (“Roman ounce, various similar units”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *óynos (“one”). Doublet of a, one, inch, uncia, onça, onza, oka, ouguiya, and awqiyyah.

noun

1
archaicA large wild feline, such as a lynx or cougar.
The Ounce or the vvilde Cat, is as big as a mungrell dog, this creature is by nature feirce, and more dangerous to bee met vvithall than any other creature, not fearing eyther dogge or man; […]
Halloa! another prey, The nimble Antelope! The ounce is freed; one spring, And his talons are sheath’d in her shoulders, And his teeth are red in her gore.
2
Synonym of snow leopard, Panthera uncia.
3
Synonym of onza, a particularly aggressive cougar or jaguarundi in Mexican folklore.
The ounce, a leopard-like creature, is dreaded for its depredations by the Indians of Brazil.

Etymology

From Middle French once, from Old French lonce (“lynx”), by false division (the l was thought to be the article), from Italian lonza, ultimately from Ancient Greek λύγξ (lúnx, “lynx”). Doublet of onza and lynx.

Forms

plural: ounces

Ouch · A surname.ought · Indicating duty or obligation.oui · Synonym of yes.

ounce · An avoirdupois ounce, weighing ¹⁄₁₆ of an avoirdupois pound, or 28.349523125 grams.

our · Belonging to us, excluding the person(s) being addressed…ours · That or those belonging to us. Excluding the person(s) being…ourselves · Us; the group including the speaker as the object of a verb…

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.