Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Pound

Pound (pound) , transitive verb

[Old English pounen, Anglo-Saxon punian to bruise. Compare Pun a play on words.]

1.
To strike repeatedly with some heavy instrument; to beat.
With cruel blows she pounds her blubbered cheeks. — Dryden
2.
To comminute and pulverize by beating; to bruise or break into fine particles with a pestle or other heavy instrument; as, to pound spice or salt.

Pound , intransitive verb

1.
To strike heavy blows; to beat.
2.
(Machinery) To make a jarring noise, as in running; as, the engine pounds.

Pound , noun

[Anglo-Saxon pund an inclosure: compare forpyndan to turn away, or to repress, also Icelandic pynda to extort, torment, Ir. pont, pond, pound. Compare Pinder, Pinfold, Pin to inclose, Pond.]

1.
An inclosure, maintained by public authority, in which cattle or other animals are confined when taken in trespassing, or when going at large in violation of law; a pinfold. — Shakespeare
2.
A level stretch in a canal between locks.
3.
(Fishing) A kind of net, having a large inclosure with a narrow entrance into which fish are directed by wings spreading outward.
Collocations (2)
Pound covert , a pound that is close or covered over, as a shed.
Pound overt , a pound that is open overhead.

Pound , transitive verb

To confine in, or as in, a pound; to impound. — Milton

Pound (#) , noun

[Anglo-Saxon pund, from Latin pondo, akin to pondus a weight, pendere to weigh. See Pendant.]

1.
A certain specified measure of mass or weight; especially, a legal standard consisting of an established number of ounces.

The pound in general use in the United States and in England is the pound avoirdupois, which is divided into sixteen ounces, and contains 7,000 grains (0.453 kilogram). The pound troy is divided into twelve ounces, and contains 5,760 grains. 144 pounds avoirdupois are equal to 175 pounds troy weight. See Avoirdupois, and Troy.

2.
A British denomination of money of account, equivalent to twenty shillings sterling, and equal in value to about $4.86 in 1900 and $1.50 in 2002. The modern pound coin was introduced in 1983. Formerly there was a gold sovereign of the same value.

The pound sterling was in Saxon times, about a. d. 671, a pound troy of silver, and a shilling was its twentieth part; consequently the latter was three times as large as it is at present.