pound

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a public enclosure for stray or unlicensed dogs

   unlicensed dogs will be taken to the pound

2. 2
   noun

   equivalent to 16 ounces avoirdupois

   They got a hernia when they tried to lift 100 pounds.

3. 3
   verb

   break down and crush by beating, as with a pestle

   pound the roots with a heavy flat stone

4. 4
   verb

   place or shut up in a pound

   pound the cows so they don't stray

5. 5
   verb

   shut up or confine in any enclosure or within any bounds or limits

   The prisoners are safely pounded

6. 6
   verb

   hit hard with the hand, fist, or some heavy instrument

   the salesman pounded the door knocker

7. 7
   verb

   partition off into compartments

   The locks pound the water of the canal

8. 8
   noun

   A unit of weight in various measurement systems.

   B-2 bombers are the only plane capable of carrying the Massive Ordinance Penetrator, which experts have highlighted as the only type of bomb potentially capable of destroying Iran’s underground Fordow nuclear facility. Each B-2 bomber is able to carry two of these “bunker buster” bombs, which weigh an impressive 30,000 pounds each.

Etymology

From Middle English pound, from Old English pund (“a pound, weight”), from Proto-West Germanic *pund, from Proto-Germanic *pundą (“pound, weight”), an early borrowing from Latin pondō (“by weight”), ablative form of pondus (“weight”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to pull, stretch”). Cognate with Dutch pond, German Pfund, Danish pund and Swedish pund. Doublet of funt, pfund, pood, and punt.