Definitions

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

  • noun A unit of weight in the US Customary System equal to 100 pounds (45.36 kilograms).
  • noun A unit of weight in the British Imperial System equal to 112 pounds (50.80 kilograms).

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In avoirdupois weight, a denomination of weight, usually denoted by cwt., containing originally 112 pounds.

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

  • noun A denomination of weight, containing 100, 112, or 120 pounds avoirdupois, according to differing laws or customs. By the legal standard of England it is 112 pounds. In most of the United States, both in practice and by law, it is 100 pounds avoirdupois, the corresponding ton of 2,000 pounds, sometimes called the short ton, being the legal ton.

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

  • noun A measure of weight containing 100 pounds (45.5 kg) in the U.S. or 112 pounds (51 kg) in the United Kingdom.

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

  • noun a United States unit of weight equivalent to 100 pounds
  • noun a British unit of weight equivalent to 112 pounds
  • noun a unit of weight equal to 100 kilograms

Etymologies

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Examples

  • 'Your honour has a cart or beast of burden with you, doubtless?' said the chandler, 'for two hundredweight is a heavy load.'

    Tales of the Punjab 1894

  • They don't know yet that it amounts to five or six hundredweight, which is coined into ready money underneath the ground.

    The Poor Plutocrats M��r J��kai 1864

  • The current price is $15 to $16 a hundredweight, which is 100 pounds of milk.

    The Shad Plank 2010

  • The current price is $15 to $16 a hundredweight, which is 100 pounds of milk.

    The Shad Plank 2010

  • The current price is $15 to $16 a hundredweight, which is 100 pounds of milk.

    The Shad Plank 2010

  • The current price is $15 to $16 a hundredweight, which is 100 pounds of milk.

    WHSV - HomePage - Headlines 2010

  • And the department said potato production was forecast at 7.9 million hundredweight, which is 4 percent less than a year ago.

    High Plains Journal 2008

  • There were also 8-inch guns of 55 and 63 "hundredweight" (the contemporary naval nomenclature), and four sizes of 32-pounders ranging from 27 to 57 hundredweight.

    Artillery Through the Ages A Short Illustrated History of Cannon, Emphasizing Types Used in America Albert Manucy

  • They're all equal, and all based on the pound, with 14 pounds in a stone and 28 pounds in a quarter (it's a quarter of a "hundredweight" which is in turn 1/20 of an Imperial ton).

    BBC News - Home 2010

  • Marx uses corn and iron as his examples, saying 1 quarter corn = x hundredweight iron.

    A Bland and Deadly Courtesy skzbrust 2010

Comments

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  • a unit of avoirdupois weight commonly equivalent to 100 pounds (45.359 kilograms) in the U.S.

    March 28, 2007

  • In consideration of the pleural, which might be known to be most correct; "Hundredsweight" or "Hundredweights" ?

    July 25, 2022