mass

English Online Dictionary. What means mass‎? What does mass mean?

English

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. 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

• IPA^(key): /mæs/, Rhymes: -æs
• (Hong Kong, Indic) IPA^(key): /mɑːs/, Rhymes: -ɑːs

Noun

mass (countable and uncountable, plural masses)

1. (physical) Matter, material.
   1. 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.
   2. (obsolete) Precious metal, especially gold or silver.
   3. (physics) A measure of the inertia of a mass of matter, one of four fundamental properties of matter. SI unit of mass: kilogram.
   4. (pharmacology) A medicinal substance made into a cohesive, homogeneous lump, of consistency suitable for making pills; as, blue mass.
   5. (medicine) A palpable or visible abnormal globular structure; a tumor.
   6. (bodybuilding) Excess body mass, especially in the form of muscle hypertrophy.
2. A large quantity; a sum.
   1. Bulk; magnitude; body; size.
   2. The principal part; the main body.
   3. A large body of individuals, especially persons.
   4. (in the plural) The lower classes of persons.

Coordinate terms

(matter):

• weight

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• Customary units: slug, pound, ounce, long ton (1.12 short tons), short ton (commonly used)
• Metric units: gram (g), kilogram (kg), metric ton

Verb

mass (third-person singular simple present masses, present participle massing, simple past and past participle massed)

1. (transitive) To form or collect into a mass; to form into a collective body; to bring together into masses; to assemble.
2. (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)

1. Involving a mass of things; concerning a large quantity or number.
2. Involving a mass of people; of, for, or by the masses.

Derived terms

Translations

References

Etymology 2

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

• Rhymes: -ɑːs
• (US) IPA^(key): /mæs/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /mæs/, /mɑːs/
• Rhymes: -æs

Noun

mass (plural masses)

1. (Christianity) The Eucharist, now especially in Roman Catholicism.
2. (Christianity) Celebration of the Eucharist.
3. (Christianity, by extension) The main kind of church service, in some denominations.

   Hypernym: church service

4. (Christianity, usually as the Mass) The sacrament of the Eucharist.
5. A musical setting of parts of the mass.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

mass (third-person singular simple present masses, present participle massing, simple past and past participle massed)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To celebrate mass.

Translations

Further reading

• “mass”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “mass”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Sams, SAMs, MSAs, sams, SMAs, MSSA, SMSA, ASMS, ASMs

Swedish

Noun

mass c

1. (Småland dialect) Pronunciation spelling of mars (“March”).

Võro

Etymology 1

From Proto-Finnic *maksa, from Proto-Uralic *mëksa.

Noun

mass (genitive massa, partitive massa)

1. liver

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Etymology 2

From Proto-Finnic *maksu. Related to Estonian maks.

Noun

mass (genitive massu, partitive massu)

1. tax, payment

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.