AVOIRDUPOIS

Avoirdupois

The avoirdupois system is a system of weights based on a pound of 16 ounces. It is the everyday system of weight used in the United States and is still used to varying degrees in everyday life in the United Kingdom, Canada, and some other former British colonies despite the official adoption of the metric system. An alternative system of mass is generally used for precious materials, the Troy system. The modern definition of the avoirdupois pound is exactly

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avoirdupois

Noun

  1. The official system of weights used in UK between 1856 and 1963. It had been the customary system in London since 1300 .
  2. The official system of weights used in USA between 1866 and 1959.
  3. Weight; heaviness.
    he has a lot of avoirdupois


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: avoirdupois
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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