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Pound vs Word - What's the difference?

pound | word |

As nouns the difference between pound and word

is that pound is short for pound-force, a unit of force/weight or pound can be a place for the detention of stray or wandering animals or pound can be a hard blow while word is the smallest unit of language which has a particular meaning and can be expressed by itself; the smallest discrete, meaningful unit of language.

As verbs the difference between pound and word

is that pound is to confine in, or as in, a pound; to impound or pound can be (label) to strike hard, usually repeatedly while word is (lb) to say or write (something) using particular words; to phrase (something) or word can be (to become).

As a interjection word is

(slang|aave) truth, indeed, to tell or speak the truth; the shortened form of the statement, "my word is my bond," an expression eventually shortened to "word is bond," before it finally got cut to just "word," which is its most commonly used form.

pound

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl), from (etyl) . Cognate with Dutch pond, German Pfund, Swedish pund.

Noun

  • (en noun) (sometimes pound after numerals)
  • Short for pound-force, a unit of force/weight.
  • A unit of mass equal to 16 avoirdupois ounces (= 453.592 37 g). Today this value is the most common meaning of "pound" as a unit of weight.
  • * 28 July 2010 , Rachel Williams in The Guardian, Mothers who lose weight before further pregnancy ‘reduce risks’ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/28/mothers-lose-weight-reduce-risks?INTCMP=SRCH]
  • Research shows that retaining even one or two pounds after giving birth can make problems more likely in a subsequent pregnancy, experts said, with women who have several children facing a "slippery slope" if they continue to gain weight each time.
  • A unit of mass equal to 12 troy ounces (? 373.242 g). Today, this is a common unit of weight when measuring precious metals, and is little used elsewhere.
  • (US) The symbol (octothorpe, hash)
  • The unit of currency used in the United Kingdom and its dependencies. It is divided into 100 pence.
  • * November 11 2012 , Carole Cadwalladr in the Observer, Do online courses spell the end for the traditional university? [http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/nov/11/online-free-learning-end-of-university?INTCMP=SRCH]
  • For students in developing countries who can't get it any other way, or for students in the first world, who can but may choose not to. Pay thousands of pounds a year for your education? Or get it free online?
  • * 1860 , (George Eliot), The Mill on the Floss , Book 5, Chapter 6
  • "Only a hundred and ninety-three pound ," said Mr. Tulliver. "You've brought less o' late; but young fellows like to have their own way with their money. Though I didn't do as I liked before I was of age." He spoke with rather timid discontent.
  • Any of various units of currency used in Cyprus, Egypt, Lebanon, and formerly in the Republic of Ireland and Israel.
  • * Episode 4
  • He glanced back through what he had read and, while feeling his water flow quietly, he envied kindly Mr Beaufoy who had written it and received payment of three pounds , thirteen and six.
  • Any of various units of currency formerly used in the United States.
  • the Rhode Island pound'''; the New Hampshire '''pound
  • English plurals (unit of currency)
  • *
  • Usage notes
    * Internationally, the "pound" has most commonly referred to the UK pound, £, (pound sterling). The other currencies were usually distinguished in some way, e.g., the "Irish pound" or the "punt". * In the vicinity of each other country calling its currency the pound among English speakers the local currency would be the "pound", with all others distinguished, e.g., the "British pound", the "Egyptian pound" etc. * The general plural of "pound" has usually been "pounds" (at least since Chaucer), but the continuing use of the Old English genitive or neuter "pound" as the plural after numerals (for both currency and weight) is common in some regions. It can be considered correct, or colloquial, depending on region. (English Citations of "pound")
    Synonyms
    * lb * lb t * (UK unit of currency) , pound sterling, GBP, quid (colloquial), nicker (slang) * (Other units of currency) punt (the former Irish currency) * hash (UK), sharp
    Derived terms
    * -pounder * * Amsterdam pound * avoirdupois pound * foot-pound * foot-pound-second * * metric pound * pack on the pounds * pink pound * pound cake * pound-foolish * pound-force * pound-for-pound * pound of flesh * pound shop * pound sign * take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves * ten pound pom * ten pound tourist * troy pound
    See also
    * * * (UK unit of currency) crown, farthing, florin, guinea, penny, pence, shilling, sovereign, sterling

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A place for the detention of stray or wandering animals.
  • * 2002 , , 00:27:30:
  • (Police officer to a dog owner) "He'd better stay calm or I'll have the pound come and get him."
  • A place for the detention of automobiles that have been illegally parked, abandoned, etc.
  • The part of a canal between two locks, and therefore at the same water level.
  • A kind of fishing net, having a large enclosure with a narrow entrance into which fish are directed by wings spreading outward.
  • *
  • , title=[http://openlibrary.org/works/OL5535161W Mr. Pratt's Patients], chapter=1 , passage=Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.}}
    Usage notes
    * (Manx English) uses this word uncountably.
    Derived terms
    * dog pound * impound * lobster pound

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To confine in, or as in, a pound; to impound.
  • * 1644 , (John Milton), (Areopagitica); A speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England
  • And he who were pleasantly disposed, could not well avoid to liken it to the exploit of that gallant man, who thought to pound up the crows by shutting his park gate.

    Etymology 3

    From an alteration of earlier poun, pown, from (etyl) pounen, from (etyl) , pynd, in relation to the hollow mortar for pounding with the pestle.

    Alternative forms

    * (l), (l) (obsolete or dialectal)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (label) To strike hard, usually repeatedly.
  • *, chapter=12
  • , title=[http://openlibrary.org/works/OL5535161W Mr. Pratt's Patients] , passage=She had Lord James' collar in one big fist and she pounded the table with the other and talked a blue streak. Nobody could make out plain what she said, for she was mainly jabbering Swede lingo, but there was English enough, of a kind, to give us some idee.}}
  • (label) To crush to pieces; to pulverize.
  • To eat or drink very quickly.
  • To pitch consistently to a certain location.
  • To beat strongly or throb.
  • To penetrate sexually, with vigour.
  • To advance heavily with measured steps.
  • * 1899 , (Joseph Conrad),
  • We pounded along, stopped, landed soldiers; went on, landed custom–house clerks to levy toll in what looked like a God–forsaken wilderness, with a tin shed and a flag–pole lost in it; landed more soldiers—to take care of the custom–house clerks, presumably.
  • (label) To make a jarring noise, as when running.
  • (slang, dated) To wager a pound on.
  • *1854 , Dickens, Hard Times , Chapter 4:
  • *:Good-bye, my dear!' said Sleary. 'You'll make your fortun, I hope, and none of our poor folkth will ever trouble you, I'll pound it.
  • Synonyms
    * (drink quickly)
    Derived terms
    * pounding * pound down * pound the pavement * pound the table * pound sand * pound town * pound up
    See also
    * bang

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A hard blow.
  • word

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) word, from (etyl) verb.

    Noun

    (en noun) {{examples-right, The word inventory may be pronounced with four syllables (/??n.v?n.t?.?i/) or only three (/?n?v?n.t?i/).

    The word island'' is six letters long; the ''s'' has never been pronounced but was added under the influence of ''isle .


    The word me signed in American Sign Language. }}
  • The smallest unit of language which has a particular meaning and can be expressed by itself; the smallest discrete, meaningful unit of language.
  • * 1986 , David Barrat, Media Sociology (ISBN 041505110X), page 112:
  • The word , whether written or spoken, does not look like or sound like its meaning — it does not resemble its signified. We only connect the two because we have learnt the code — language. Without such knowledge, 'Maggie' would just be a meaningless pattern of shapes or sounds.
  • * 2009 , Jack Fitzgerald, Viva La Evolucin (ISBN 055719833X), page 233:
  • Brian and Abby signed the word' ''clothing'', in which the thumbs brush down the chest as though something is hanging there. They both spoke the '''word''' ''clothing''. Brian then signed the '''word for ''change ,
  • *
  • # The smallest discrete unit of spoken language which has a particular meaning, composed of one or more phonemes and one or more morphemes.
  • #* 1894 , Alex. R. Mackwen, The Samaritan Passover'', in ''Littell's Living Age , series 6, volume 1:
  • Then all was silent save the voice of the high priest, whose words grew louder and louder,
  • #*
  • # The smallest discrete unit of written language which has a particular meaning, composed of one or more letters or symbols and one or more morphemes.
  • #* , act 2, scene 2:
  • Polonius: What do you read, my lord?
  • Hamlet: Words', '''words''', ' words .
  • #* 2003 , Jan Furman, Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon: A Casebook (ISBN 0195146352), page 194:
  • The name was a confused gift of love from her father, who could not read the word but picked it out of the Bible for its visual shape,
  • #* 2009 , Stanislas Dehaene, Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read (ISBN 1101152400):
  • Well-meaning academics even introduced spelling absurdities such as the “s” in the word “island,” a misguided Renaissance attempt to restore the etymology of the [unrelated] Latin word insula .
  • # A discrete, meaningful unit of language which is approved by some authority.
  • #* 1896 , (Israel Zangwill), Without Prejudice , page 21:
  • “Ain’t! How often am I to tell you ain’t ain’t a word ?”
  • #* 1999 , Linda Greenlaw, The Hungry Ocean , Hyperion, page 11:
  • Fisherwoman isn’t even a word . It’s not in the dictionary.
  • # A sequence of letters or characters, or sounds, which (does not necessarily belong to a language or have a meaning, but which) is considered as a discrete entity.
  • #* 1974 , Thinking Goes to School: Piaget's Theory in Practice (ISBN 0199839077), page 183:
  • In still another variation, the nonsense word is presented and the teacher asks, "What sound was in the beginning of the word?" "In the middle?" and so on. The child should always respond with the phoneme; he should not use letter labels.
  • #* 2003 , How To Do Everything with Your Tablet PC (ISBN 0072227710), page 278:
  • I wrote a nonsense word , "umbalooie," in the Input Panel's Writing Pad. Input Panel converted it to "cembalos" and displayed it in the Text Preview pane.
  • #* 2006 , Scribal Habits and Theological Influences in the Apocalypse (ISBN 3161491122), page 141:
  • Here the scribe has dropped the ?? from ?????????, thereby creating the nonsense word ???????.
  • #* 2013 , The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Language (ISBN 1317859979), page 91:
  • If M. V. has sustained impairment to a phonological output process common to reading and repetition, we might anticipate that her mispronunciations will partially reflect the underlying phonemic form of the nonsense word .
  • Something which is like such a unit of language:
  • # (telegraphy) A unit of text equivalent to five characters and one space.
  • # (computing) A fixed-size group of bits handled as a unit by a machine (on many machines, 16 bits or two bytes).
  • # (computer science) A finite string which is not a command or operator.
  • # (group theory) A group element, expressed as a product of group elements.
  • The fact or act of speaking, as opposed to taking action.
  • * 1811 , (Jane Austen), (Sense and Sensibility) :
  • she believed them still so very much attached to each other, that they could not be too sedulously divided in word and deed on every occasion.
  • * 2004 , Richard Williams, The Guardian , 8 Sep 2004:
  • As they fell apart against Austria, England badly needed someone capable of leading by word and example.
  • * 1611 , Bible , Authorized Version, (w) XXVI.75:
  • And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
  • * (1809-1892)
  • She said; but at the happy word "he lives", / My father stooped, re-fathered, o'er my wound.
  • * (Charles Dickens) (1812-1870)
  • There is only one other point on which I offer a word of remark.
  • * 1945 April 1, Sebastian Haffner, in The Observer :
  • "The Kaiser laid down his arms at a quarter to twelve. In me, however, they have an opponent who ceases fighting only at five minutes past twelve," said Hitler some time ago. He has never spoken a truer word .
  • * 2011 , (David Bellos), Is That a Fish in Your Ear? , Penguin 2012, page 126:
  • Despite appearances to the contrary [...] dragomans stuck rigidly to their brief, which was not to translate the Sultan's words, but his word .
  • A watchword or rallying cry, a verbal signal (even when consisting of multiple words).
  • * 1592 , William Shakespeare, :
  • Our ancient word of courage, fair Saint George, inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons!
  • * 1647 (published), John Fletcher and William Rowley, (The Maid in the Mill) (published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio), scene 3:
  • I have the word : sentinel, do thou stand;
    mum's the word
  • (lb) A proverb or motto.
  • * 1499 , (John Skelton), The Bowge of Court :
  • Among all other was wrytten in her trone / In golde letters, this worde , whiche I dyde rede: / Garder le fortune que est mauelz]] et [[bon, bone .
  • * 1599 , Ben Jonson, (Every Man out of His Humour) :
  • Let the word be 'Not without mustard'. Your crest is very rare, sir.
  • * 1646 , , The Balm of Gilead :
  • The old word is, 'What the eye views not, the heart rues not.'
  • *
  • Word had gone round during the day that old Major, the prize Middle White boar, had had a strange dream on the previous night and wished to communicate it to the other animals.
  • An order; a request or instruction; an expression of will.
  • Don't fire till I give the word
    Their mother's word was law.
  • A promise; an oath or guarantee.
  • A brief discussion or conversation.
  • (in the plural) Angry debate or conversation; argument.
  • * 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , :
  • And that worde' was made flesshe, and dwelt amonge vs, and we sawe the glory off yt, as the glory off the only begotten sonne off the father, which ' worde was full of grace, and verite.
    Usage notes
    * (distinct unit of language) In English and other space-delimited languages, it is customary to treat "word" as referring to any sequence of characters delimited by spaces. However, this is not applicable to languages such as Chinese and Japanese, which are normally written without spaces, or to languages such as Vietnamese, which are written with a space between each syllable. * (computing) The size (length) of a word, while being fixed in a particular machine or processor family design, can be different in different designs, for many reasons. See for a full explanation.
    Quotations
    * 1897 , Ouida, The New Woman'', in ''An Altruist and Four Essays , page 239: *: But every word', whether written or spoken, which urges the woman to antagonism against the man, every ' word which is written or spoken to try and make of her a hybrid, self-contained opponent of men, makes a rift in the lute to which the world looks for its sweetest music. * 2011 , John Lehew (senior), The Encouragement of Peter (ISBN 1615074708), page 108: *: In what sense is God's Word living? No other word , whether written or spoken, has the power that the Bible has to change lives. *
    Synonyms
    * (distinct unit of language) vocable * (something promised) promise * (God) God, Logos * (Bible) word of God, Bible * See also

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (lb) To say or write (something) using particular words; to phrase (something).
  • I’m not sure how to word this letter to the council.
  • To flatter with words, to cajole.
  • * 1607 , William Shakespeare, Anthony and Cleopatra , act 5, scene 2:
  • He words' me, girls, he ' words me, that I should not / be noble to myself.
  • (lb) To ply or overpower with words.
  • * 1621 November 30, James Howell, letter to Francis Bacon, from Turin:
  • if one were to be worded to death, Italian is the fittest Language [for that task]
  • * 1829 April, Webster's Dictionary'', in ''The North American Review , volume 28, page 438:
  • if a man were to be worded to death, or stoned to death by words, the High-Dutch were the fittest [language for that task].
  • To conjure with a word.
  • * (Robert South), Sermon on Psalm XXXIX. 9 :
  • Against him who could word' heaven and earth out of nothing, and can when he pleases ' word them into nothing again.
  • * 1994 , Liminal Postmodernisms''/''Postmodern Studies , volume 8, page 162:
  • "Postcolonialism" might well be another linguistic construct, desperately begging for a referent that will never show up, simply because it never existed on its own and was literally worded into existence by the very term that pretends to be born from it.
  • * 2013 , Carla Mae Streeter, Foundations of Spirituality: The Human and the Holy (ISBN 0814680712), page 92:
  • The being of each person is worded into existence in the Word,
  • To speak, to use words; to converse, to discourse.
  • * 1818 , John Keats, Hyperion :
  • Thus wording timidly among the fierce: / 'O Father, I am here the simplest voice, [...]'
    Synonyms
    * (say or write using particular words) express, phrase, put into words, state

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • (slang, AAVE) truth, indeed, to tell or speak the truth; the shortened form of the statement, "My word is my bond," an expression eventually shortened to "Word is bond," before it finally got cut to just "Word," which is its most commonly used form.
  • * "Yo, that movie was epic!" / "Word'?" ("You speak the truth?") / "' Word ." ("I speak the truth.")
  • (slang, emphatic, stereotypically, AAVE) An abbreviated form of word up; a statement of the acknowledgment of fact with a hint of nonchalant approval.
  • * 2004 , Shannon Holmes, Never Go Home Again: A Novel , page 218
  • " Know what I'm sayin'?" / "Word !" the other man strongly agreed. "Let's do this — "
  • * 2007 , Gabe Rotter, Duck Duck Wally: A Novel , page 105
  • ""
  • * 2007 , Relentless Aaron The Last Kingpin , page 34
  • ""

    Derived terms

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    See also

    * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Etymology 2

    Variant of .

    Verb

    (head)
  • (to become).
  • Statistics

    *