I. pound 1 S1 W2 /paʊnd/ BrE AmE noun
[ Sense 1-2, 5-6: Language: Old English ; Origin: pund , from Latin pondo ]
[ Sense 3-4: Date: 1400-1500 ; Origin: Perhaps from Old English pund- , found only in compound words ]
1 . WEIGHT [countable] ( written abbreviation lb ) a unit for measuring weight, equal to 16 ↑ ounce s or 0.454 kilograms
pound of
a pound of apples
Moira weighs about 130 pounds.
The grapes cost $2 a pound.
2 . MONEY [countable] ( also pound sterling )
a) £ the standard unit of money in Britain, which is divided into 100 pence:
They spent over a thousand pounds.
a multi-million pound business
a five pound note
b) the (British) pound the value of British money compared with the value of the money of other countries:
The pound was up against the dollar.
c) the standard unit of money in various other countries, such as Egypt and the Sudan
3 . FOR DOGS AND CATS [countable usually singular] a place where dogs and cats that have been found on the street are kept until their owners come to get them
4 . FOR CARS [countable] a place where cars that have been illegally parked are kept until their owners pay money to get them back
5 . get/take/demand etc your pound of flesh to get the full amount of work, money etc that someone owes you, even though it makes them suffer and you do not really need it. The phrase comes from Shylock, a character in the play The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare. He is a Jewish money-lender who lends money to Antonio. When Antonio is unable to pay the money back, Shylock says he has the right to cut a pound of flesh from Antonio’s body.
6 . TELEPHONE [uncountable] American English the ↑ pound key
II. pound 2 BrE AmE verb
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: punian ]
1 . HIT [intransitive and transitive] to hit something very hard several times and make a lot of noise, damage it, break it into smaller pieces etc:
He began pounding the keyboard of his computer.
pound against/on
Thomas pounded on the door with his fist.
Waves pounded against the pier.
pound something against/on something
Green pounded his fist on the counter.
2 . HEART [intransitive] if your heart or blood is pounding, your heart is beating very hard and quickly
pound with
Patrick rushed to the door, his heart pounding with excitement.
She ran, her heart pounding in her chest.
3 . HEAD [intransitive] if your head is pounding, it feels painful, especially because you have a headache or you have been using a lot of effort
4 . MOVE [intransitive always + adverb/preposition, transitive] to walk or run quickly with heavy loud steps
pound along/through/down etc
I could hear him pounding up the stairs.
a policeman pounding his beat
Runners will be pounding the pavement this weekend during the London Marathon.
5 . ATTACK WITH BOMBS [transitive] to attack a place continuously for a long time with bombs:
Enemy forces have been pounding the city for over two months.
pound something ↔ out phrasal verb
to play music loudly:
The Rolling Stones were pounding out one of their old numbers.
• • •
THESAURUS
■ to hit something
▪ hit :
Jack hit the ball and it flew over the fence
▪ knock to hit a door or window with your closed hand in order to attract the attention of the people inside:
Someone was knocking on the door.
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I knocked loudly but no one came.
▪ strike written to hit a surface. Strike is more formal than hit and is mainly used in written English:
The ball struck the side of the goal.
▪ whack /wæk/ informal to hit something very hard:
Edmonds whacked the ball into the air.
▪ bash to hit something hard, especially in a way that causes damage:
The police had to bash the door down to get in.
▪ tap to gently hit something with your fingers, often in order to attract someone’s attention:
I tapped him on the shoulder.
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I heard someone tapping on the window.
▪ rap to knock quickly or hit something several times:
He rapped the table with his pen to bring the meeting to order.
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Two police officers rapped on the door at 7 o'clock in the morning.
▪ bang to suddenly hit something hard, in a way that makes a loud noise:
Her father banged his fist down on the table angrily.
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The door suddenly banged shut.
▪ pound written to hit something many times with a lot of force:
I could hear the sea pounding on the rocks.
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She pounded on the door and shouted wildly.
▪ hammer written to hit something quickly many times making a loud continuous noise:
The rain was hammering on the roof.
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A crowd of people were outside hammering on the door angrily.