Definitions

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

  • noun A unit of measure for the fineness of gold, equal to 1/24 part. Pure gold is 24 karat; gold that is 50 percent pure is 12 karat.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See carat.

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

  • noun the unit of measurement for the proportion of gold in an alloy; 18-karat gold is 75 2.122e-314old; 24-karat gold is pure gold.

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

  • noun US A unit of fineness or concentration of gold equalling 1/24 part of gold in an alloy.

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

  • noun the unit of measurement for the proportion of gold in an alloy; 18-karat gold is 75% gold; 24-karat gold is pure gold

Etymologies

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

[Variant of carat.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, from Middle French carat, from Medieval Latin carratus.

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Examples

  • Whenever gold is purchased, sold, or even discussed, the term karat weight seems to tag along with it.

    The New Homemaker regeenag 2009

  • Vronsky, Anna Karenina's faithless lover, is from the Russian voron, ` raven, 'and Karenina is from the word karat ` to punish.'

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XI No 3 1984

  • Also, that dental gold is more than 15-karat, which is, sadly, better quality than most of the jewelry I own.

    Minyanville 2010

  • A karat is a measure of the portion of pure gold in an alloy.

    Duke Today Top Stories Feed 2009

  • A karat is a measure of the portion of pure gold in an alloy.

    Duke Today Top Stories Feed 2009

  • A karat is a measure of the portion of pure gold in an alloy.

    Duke Today Top Stories Feed 2009

  • The mystique surrounding words such as karat and carat most probably survives from the days of the Old World craftsmen.

    Vail Daily - Top Stories 2010

  • The mystique surrounding words such as karat and carat most probably survives from the days of the Old World craftsmen.

    Vail Daily - Top Stories 2010

  • The mystique surrounding words such as karat and carat most probably survives from the days of the Old World craftsmen.

    Vail Daily - Top Stories 2010

  • The mystique surrounding words such as karat and carat most probably survives from the days of the Old World craftsmen.

    Vail Daily - Top Stories 2010

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