mass
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology 1
In late Middle English (circa 1400) as masse in the sense of "lump, quantity of matter", from Anglo-Norman masse, in Old French attested from the 11th century, via late Latin massa (“lump, dough”), from Ancient Greek μᾶζα (mâza, “barley-cake, lump (of dough)”). The Greek noun may be derived from the verb μάσσω (mássō, “to knead”), ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European *maǵ- (“to oil, knead”), although this is uncertain.[1] Doublet of masa. The sense of "a large number or quantity" arises circa 1580. The scientific sense is from 1687 (as Latin massa) in the works of Isaac Newton, with the first English use (as mass) occurring in 1704.
Pronunciation
Noun
mass (countable and uncountable, plural masses)
- (physical) Matter, material.
- A quantity of matter cohering together so as to make one body, or an aggregation of particles or things which collectively make one body or quantity, usually of considerable size.
- 1718 [1704], Isaac Newton, Opticks, 2nd edition:
- And if it were not for theſe Principles the Bodies of the Earth, Planets, Comets, Sun, and all things in them would grow cold and freeze, and become inactive Maſſes ; […] .
- 1821 [1582], George Buchanan, The History of Scotland, from the Earliest Accounts of that Nation, to the Reign of King James VI, volume 1 (in English), translation of Rerum Scoticarum Historia by an unnamed translator, page 133:
- […] and because a deep mass of continual sea is slower stirred to rage.
- (obsolete) Precious metal, especially gold or silver.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.10:
- Right in the midst the Goddesse selfe did stand / Upon an altar of some costly masse […].
- (physics) A measure of the inertia of a mass of matter, one of four fundamental properties of matter. SI unit of mass: kilogram.
- (pharmacology) A medicinal substance made into a cohesive, homogeneous lump, of consistency suitable for making pills; as, blue mass.
- (medicine) A palpable or visible abnormal globular structure; a tumor.
- (bodybuilding) Excess body mass, especially in the form of muscle hypertrophy.
- 1988, Steve Holman, “Christian Conquers Columbus”, in Ironman, volume 47, number 6, pages 28–34:
- After all, muscle maniacs go "ga ga" over mass no matter how it's presented.
- A quantity of matter cohering together so as to make one body, or an aggregation of particles or things which collectively make one body or quantity, usually of considerable size.
- A large quantity; a sum.
- 1829, Sir Walter Raleigh, The Works of Sir Walter Ralegh, Kt, volume VIII:
- […] he hath discovered to me the way to five or six of the richest mines which the Spaniard hath, and whence all the mass of gold that comes into Spain in effect is drawn.
- 1869, Alexander George Richey, Lectures on the History of Ireland: Down to A. D. 1534, page 204:
- For though he had spent a huge mass of treasure in transporting his army, […] .
- Bulk; magnitude; body; size.
- c. 1599-1601, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, act 4, scene 4:
- Witness this army of such mass and charge / Led by a delicate and tender prince,
- The principal part; the main body.
- 1881, Thucydides, translated by Benjamin Jowett, Thucydides translated into English, volume 1, page 310:
- Night closed upon the pursuit, and aided the mass of the fugitives in their escape.
- A large body of individuals, especially persons.
- 1970, “War Pigs”, in Paranoid, performed by Black Sabbath:
- Generals gathered in their masses / Just like witches at black masses
- The mass of spectators didn't see the infraction on the field.
- A mass of ships converged on the beaches of Dunkirk.
- (in the plural) The lower classes of persons.
- The masses are revolting.
Coordinate terms
(matter):
Derived terms
- active gravitational mass
- airmass, air mass
- atomic mass
- biomass
- blue mass
- bodymass
- center of mass, centre of mass
- conservation of mass
- coronal mass ejection
- critical mass
- dry mass
- Earth mass
- gravitational mass
- inertial mass
- Jupiter mass
- landmass, land mass
- law of conservation of mass
- low mass star
- mass balance
- mass center
- mass copper
- mass defect
- mass density
- mass distribution
- mass driver
- mass effect
- mass energy
- mass-energy
- mass flow
- mass fraction
- massless
- mass line
- mass man
- mass monster
- mass noun
- mass number
- mass of maneuver
- mass shift
- mass spec
- mass spectrograph
- mass spectrometer
- mass spectrometry
- mass spectrum
- mass transfer
- mass wasting
- mineralomass
- molar mass
- molecular mass
- mulberry mass
- paraphrase mass
- passive gravitational mass
- Planck mass
- point mass
- reaction mass
- reduced mass
- relativistic mass
- rest mass
- solar mass
- subcritical mass
- supercritical mass
- the masses
- thermal mass
- very low mass star
- wet mass
- working mass
Translations
quantity of matter cohering together to make one body
|
large quantity; sum
|
bulk; magnitude; body; size
principal part
physics: quantity of matter which a body contains
|
pharmacy: medicinal substance made into a cohesive, homogeneous lump
medicine: palpable or visible abnormal globular structure
bodybuilding: excess body mass
large body of individuals
lower classes
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
|
See also
Verb
mass (third-person singular simple present masses, present participle massing, simple past and past participle massed)
- (transitive) To form or collect into a mass; to form into a collective body; to bring together into masses; to assemble.
- 1829, William Burke, John Macnee, Trial of William Burke and Helen M'Dougal: Before the High Court of Judiciary, William Hare:
- They would unavoidably mix up the whole of these declarations, and mass them together, although the Judge might direct the Jury not to do so.
- 1857, Edward Henry Nolan, The Illustrated History of the War against Russia, Parts 93-111, page 432:
- Every bend on the hill had acted like a funnel to mass them together in this peculiar way.
- 1869, H. P. Robinson, Pictorial Effect in Photography: Being Hints on Composition and Chiariscuro for Photographers:
- Where there is too great a repetition of forms, light and shade will break them up or mass them together.
- (intransitive) To assemble in a mass
Synonyms
- (to form into a mass): See also Thesaurus:assemble
- (to collect into a mass): See also Thesaurus:coalesce or Thesaurus:round up
- (to have a certain mass): weigh
Translations
Adjective
mass (not generally comparable, comparative masser, superlative massest)
- Involving a mass of things; concerning a large quantity or number.
- There is evidence of mass extinctions in the distant past.
- 1989, Creighton Peden, Larry E. Axel (editors), God, Values, and Empiricism: Issues in Philosophical Theology, page 2:
- With perhaps unprecedented magnitude and clarity, Auschwitz brings theologians and philosophers face to face with the facts of suffering on an incredibly mass scale, with issues poignantly raised concerning the absence of divine intervention or the inadequacies of divine power or benevolence; […] .
- Involving a mass of people; of, for, or by the masses.
- Mass unemployment resulted from the financial collapse.
- 1958, Child Welfare, volume 37, page 2:
- Every agency is sold on use of mass media today — or at least, it thinks it is — and what can be "masser" than television?
- 1970, James Wilson White, The Sōkagakkai and Mass Society, page 3:
- While agreeing with Bell on the unlikelihood that any fully mass — in the sense of atomized and alienated — society has ever existed,5 I believe that at any point in time, in any social system, some elements may be characterized as "masses."
- 1974, Edward Abraham Cohn, The Political Economy of Environmental Enhancement, page 91:
- Undoubtedly this is the case; at least it is "masser" than in Pinchot's time.
- 1999 December, Sara Miles, “Rebel with a Cause”, in Out, page 132:
- But it also highlights the changes that have taken place in gay and AIDS activism, and the way that a formerly mass movement has been recast.
- 2000 November 21, Howie Klein, “Queer as role models”, in The Advocate, number 825, page 9:
- The director didn't make the images up; they're there, but in putting that one slice of gay life into the massest of mass media — the amoral promiscuity, the drug and alcohol abuse, the stereotyped flamboyance and campiness, the bitchy queeniness and flimsy values — something very dangerous happens […]
- 2001, Brian Moeran, Asian Media Productions, page 13:
- […] if only because it promises the ‘massest’ of mass markets.
- 2007, Thomas Peele, Queer popular culture: literature, media, film, and television, page 11:
- As a right, we come to expect it, and that happens through the mass media, the massest of which, by far, is television.
Derived terms
- mass burial
- mass communication
- mass culture
- mass destruction
- mass difference
- mass extinction
- mass funeral
- mass grave
- mass haul diagram
- mass hysteria
- mass market
- mass media
- mass medium
- mass murder
- mass murderer
- mass-produce
- mass-produce
- mass production
- mass shooter
- mass shooting
- mass start
- mass starvation
- mass storage
- mass surveillance
- mass transit
- mass transportation
- mass vaccination centre
- weapon of mass disruption
Translations
involving a mass of things
References
- Beekes, Etymological dictionary of Greek
Etymology 2
 |
A user suggests that this English entry be moved, merged or split. |
|---|---|
| Please see the discussion on Requests for moves, mergers and splits(+) or the talk page for more information and remove this template after the request has been fulfilled. |
From Middle English messe, masse, from Old English mæsse (“the mass, church festival”) and Old French messe, from Vulgar Latin *messa (“Eucharist, dismissal”), from Late Latin missa, noun use of feminine past participle of classical Latin mittere (“to send”), from ite, missa est (“go, (the assembly) is dismissed”), reanalyzed as "go, [that] is the missa", last words of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.
Compare Dutch mis (“mass”), German Messe (“mass”), Danish messe (“mass”), Swedish mässa (“mass; expo”), Icelandic messa (“mass”). More at mission.
Pronunciation
Noun
mass (plural masses)
- (Christianity) The Eucharist, now especially in Roman Catholicism.
- (Christianity) Celebration of the Eucharist.
- (Christianity, usually as the Mass) The sacrament of the Eucharist.
- A musical setting of parts of the mass.
Derived terms
Translations
religion: Eucharist
|
religion: celebration of the Eucharist
|
religion: sacrament of the Eucharist
|
musical setting of parts of the mass
|
Verb
mass (third-person singular simple present masses, present participle massing, simple past and past participle massed)
- (intransitive, obsolete) To celebrate mass.
- 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
- massing priests
Translations
Further reading
- “mass”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “mass”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
