HOW TO PRONOUNCE
avoirdupois
/ˌævɚdəˈpɔɪz/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:37
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What does avoirdupois mean?
noun
- (humorous) Weight; heaviness.
More meanings (3)
noun
- (historical) The official system of weights used in the UK between 1856 and 1963. It had been the customary system in London since 1300.
- (historical) The official system of weights used in the USA between 1866 and 1959.
- (obsolete) Merchandise.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˌævɚdəˈpɔɪz/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
Up comes le proprietaire - avoirdupois three hundred pounds - sighing like an exhaust-pipe at every step.
“Well, George,” said another rotund citizen, whose avoirdupois made necessary an almost alarming display of starched shirt bosom, “how goes it with you?”
More book examples (3)
Those things sound well, but they are shadowy and indefinite, like troy weight and avoirdupois; nobody knows what they mean.
By the weight of a bow is not meant its avoirdupois, but the force necessary to draw the arrow to its head on the bow.
Twelve copper pence contain half a pound avoirdupois of copper, of not the best quality, which, before it is coined, is seldom worth seven-pence in silver.