hundredweight
noun
Forms hundredweights cwt.
- noun (Canada, US) A unit of measurement containing 100 avoirdupois pounds (about 45.4 kg).
- noun (UK, chiefly historical) A unit of measurement containing 112 avoirdupois pounds (eight stone or about 50.8 kg).
- noun (historical) Synonym of quintal, a unit of measurement containing various amounts depending on the objects weighed.
- noun (historical) Various units of ancient measurement systems consisting of 100 units usually translated as "pounds".
Synonyms
short hundredweight centner cental quintal long hundredweight imperial hundredweight centenary metric hundredweight doppelzentner cwt
Etymology
16th century, from hundred + weight.
Webster’s 1913
- 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, beingthe legal ton.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “hundredweight”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details