QUANTITY


Meaning of QUANTITY in English

I. ˈkwän(t)əd.ē, -ətē, -i sometimes ˈkwȯn- noun

( -es )

Etymology: Middle English quantite, from Old French quantité, from Latin quantitat-, quantitas, from quantus how much, how large + -itat-, -itas -ity; akin to Latin quam than, how, quando when, qui who — more at who

1.

a. : an indefinite amount or number

a quantity of interesting information — Roy Lewis & Angus Maude

a quantity of pleasure — I.V.Morris

an impressive quantity of lawbooks — David Williamson

b. : a determinate or estimated amount

the quantity of flour called for in the recipe

measuring quantities of heat — K.K.Darrow

c. : total amount or number

the quantity of shoes produced by the company

the quantity of tone — Warwick Braithwaite

the quantity of her devotion — Mark Van Doren

d.

(1) : a great or very considerable amount or number : lot , bulk

a quantity of bright shawl … about her head — Charles Dickens

bought a quantity of plants — Rachel Henning

merchandise sold in quantity

(2) quantities plural : great amounts or numbers : scads

quantity of money

quantity of tan-backed girls — Edmund Wilson

e. obsolete : a small amount : mite

retaining but a quantity of life — Shakespeare

f. obsolete : relative amount : proportion

women's fear and love holds quantity — Shakespeare

2. archaic : a definite surface or extent in space

grant of a sufficient quantity of … land — Edmund Burke

3.

a. : the character of something that makes it possible to measure or number it or to determine that it is more or less than something else

a matter of quantity of production rather than quality

b. : something that may be operated upon according to fixed mutually consistent mathematical laws — see magnitude 5

4.

a. : duration and intensity of sounds as distinct from their individual quality or phonemic character ; specifically : the relative length or brevity of sounds usually indicated (as for Greek and Latin prosody) by a macron for the long, a breve for the short, and a combination of macron and breve for the common that may be either long or short

b. archaic : the relative length or duration of a musical tone

c. : the relative duration or time length of a speech sound or sound group

d. : the character of an estate as determined by its time of continuance or degree of interest (as in fee, for life, or for years)

5.

a. : the extent in which a term in a given logical proposition is to be taken ; especially : such extent as indicated by all, some, or no

b. : the character of a logical proposition as universal, particular, or singular

c. : the extension, intension, or information of a logical term

Synonyms: see sum

II. adjective

: of, relating to, or involving quantity

quantity basis

quantity production

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.