From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Ounce \Ounce\ (ouns), noun [F. once, fr. L. uncia a twelfth, the twelfth part of a pound or of a foot: cf. Gr. 'o'gkos bulk, mass, atom. Cf. 2d {Inch}, {Oke}.]
1. A weight, the sixteenth part of a pound avoirdupois, and containing 28.35 grams or 4371/2 grains. [1913 Webster +PJC]
2. (Troy Weight) The twelfth part of a troy pound; one troy ounce weighs 31.103486 grams, 8 drams, or 480 grains. [1913 Webster +PJC]
Note: The troy ounce contains twenty pennyweights, each of twenty-four grains, or, in all, 480 grains, and is the twelfth part of the troy pound. The troy ounce is also a weight in apothecaries' weight. [Troy ounce is sometimes written as one word, {troyounce}.]
3. Fig.: A small portion; a bit. [Obs.]
By ounces hung his locks that he had. --Chaucer.
{Fluid ounce}. See under {Fluid}, noun
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Ounce \Ounce\, noun [F. once; cf. It. lonza, Sp. onza; prob. for lonce, taken as l'once, fr. L. lynx, Gr. ?, or an (assumed) fem. adjective lyncea, from lynx. Cf. {Lynx}.] (Zo["o]l.) A feline quadruped ({Felis irbis} syn. {Felis uncia}) resembling the leopard in size, and somewhat in color, but it has longer and thicker fur, which forms a short mane on the back. The ounce is pale yellowish gray, with irregular dark spots on the neck and limbs, and dark rings on the body. It inhabits the lofty mountain ranges of Asia. Called also {once}.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a unit of apothecary weight equal to 480 grains or one twelfth of a pound [syn: {troy ounce}, {apothecaries' ounce}]
2: a unit of weight equal to one sixteenth of a pound or 16 drams or 28.349 grams [syn: {oz.}]
3: large feline of upland central Asia having long thick whitish fur [syn: {snow leopard}, {Panthera uncia}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
52 Moby Thesaurus words for "ounce": ace, atom, bit, crumb, dab, dole, dot, dram, dribble, driblet, drop, dwarf, farthing, fleck, flyspeck, fragment, gobbet, grain, granule, groat, hair, handful, iota, jot, little, little bit, minim, minimum, minutiae, mite, modicum, molecule, mote, nutshell, particle, pebble, pinch, pittance, point, scruple, shred, smidgen, smitch, speck, spoonful, spot, thimbleful, tiny bit, tittle, trifling amount, trivia, whit
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