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apothecaries' weight

noun

  1. a system of weights used chiefly in compounding and dispensing drugs: 20 grains = 1 scruple (℈); 3 scruples = 1 dram (dr); 8 drams = 1 ounce); 12 ounces = 1 pound. The grain, ounce, and pound are the same as in troy weight, the grain alone being the same as in avoirdupois weight.


apothecaries' weight

noun

  1. a system of weights, formerly used in pharmacy, based on the Troy ounce, which contains 480 grains. 1 grain is equal to 0.065 gram
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

apothecaries' weight

/ ə-pŏthĭ-kĕr′ēz /

  1. A system of weights used in pharmacy and based on an ounce equal to 480 grains and a pound equal to 12 ounces. It has been largely replaced by measures of the metric system.
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Word History and Origins

Origin of apothecaries' weight1

First recorded in 1755–65
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Example Sentences

He often interrupted the course of a lecture with a290 denunciation of the British "no-system of weights and measures"—"insane," "brain-wasting," "dangerous," were among the mildest epithets he applied to it, and he would deeply sympathise with the student whose recollection of avoirdupois weight, troy weight, apothecaries' weight, etc., was somewhat hazy.

Apothecaries' weight, the system of weights by which medical prescriptions were formerly compounded.

Scruple, skrōō′pl, n. a small weight—in apothecaries' weight, 20 troy grains, ⅓ drachm, 1⁄24 ounce, and 1⁄288 of a troy pound: a very small quantity: reluctance to decide or act, as from motives of conscience: difficulty.—v.i. to hesitate in deciding or acting.—n.

Of fresh outer rind of Seville orange or lemon-peel, three ounces, apothecaries’ weight; boiling water a pint and a half; infuse them for a night in a close vessel; then strain the liquor: let it stand to settle; and having poured it off clear from the sediment, dissolve in it two pounds of double-refined loaf sugar, and make it into a syrup with a gentle heat.

Of allspice bruised, three ounces, apothecaries’ weight.Brandy, a quart.

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