hundredweight
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
16th century, from hundred + weight.
Pronunciation
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
hundredweight (plural hundredweight or hundredweights)
- A measure of weight containing a hundred pounds, variously understood as
- (Canada, US) A unit of measurement containing 100 avoirdupois pounds (about 45.4 kg).
- (UK, chiefly historical) A unit of measurement containing 112 avoirdupois pounds (eight stone or about 50.8 kg).
- 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume IV, page 209:
- The hundredweight of 112 avoirdupois lbs. becomes general in the period before me, and is employed for the commoner kinds of materials.
- (historical) Synonym of quintal, a unit of measurement containing various amounts depending on the objects weighed.
- (historical) Various units of ancient measurement systems consisting of 100 units usually translated as "pounds".
Usage notes
The long hundredweight has fallen out of general use since the metrication of Britain and the Commonwealth; the short hundredweight is still in common use in the United States for the sale of livestock, some forms of grain and oilseeds, paper, concrete additives, and some other commodities.
Synonyms
- (100 lb. avoirdupois): short hundredweight; centner (rare); cental, quintal (historical)
- (112 lb. avoirdupois): long hundredweight, imperial hundredweight
- (historical units): centenary
Descendants
Translations
unit of one hundred pounds
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