Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A unit of weight in Germany and Scandinavia corresponding to the hundredweight and equal to 50 kilograms (110.23 pounds).
  • noun A unit of weight in parts of the former Soviet Union equal to 100 kilograms (220.46 pounds).
  • noun An assaying unit equal to one dram.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In metal, and assaying, a weight divisible first into a hundred parts and then into smaller parts.
  • noun A common name in many European countries for a hundredweight.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Metal. & Assaying) A weight divisible first into a hundred parts, and then into smaller parts.
  • noun The commercial hundredweight in several of the continental countries, varying in different places from 100 to about 112 pounds.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A unit of weight with different actual definitions in parts of Germany and Scandinavia, typically 100 local pounds.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a unit of weight equal to 100 kilograms
  • noun a United States unit of weight equivalent to 100 pounds
  • noun in some European countries: a unit of weight equivalent to 50 kilograms

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[German Zentner, from Old High German cëntenāri, from Latin centēnārius, of a hundred; see centenary.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Probably from Lower German Zentner, comparable to the hundredweight

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Examples

Comments

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  • 1. In some European countries, a unit of weight of 50 kilograms, equivalent to 110.2 pounds avoirdupois.

    2. a unit of 100 kilograms.

    March 28, 2007