AVERAGE

I. noun Etymology: from earlier ~ proportionally distributed charge for damage at sea, modification of Middle French avarie damage to ship or cargo, from Old Italian avaria, from Arabic ‘awārīya damaged merchandise Date: 1732 1. a single value (as a mean, mode, or median) that summarizes or represents the general significance of a set of unequal values, mean 1b, 2. an estimation of or approximation to an arithmetic mean, a level (as of intelligence) typical of a group, class, or series , a ratio expressing the ~ performance especially of an athletic team or an athlete computed according to the number of opportunities for successful performance, Synonyms: see: ~ II. adjective Date: 1770 equaling an arithmetic mean, 2. being about midway between extremes , not out of the ordinary ; common , ~ly adverb ~ness noun III. verb (~d; averaging) Date: 1769 intransitive verb 1. to be or come to an ~ , to have a medial value of , to buy on a falling market or sell on a rising market additional shares or commodities so as to obtain a more favorable ~ price, transitive verb to do, get, or have on the ~ or as an ~ sum or quantity , to find the arithmetic mean of (a series of unequal quantities), 3. to bring toward the ~, to divide among a number proportionately