mass Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the property of a body that causes it to have weight in a gravitational field
  2. noun (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
    plenty; great deal; pot; sight; flock; mint; slew; mountain; deal; wad; muckle; pile; lot; mickle; raft; quite a little; passel; hatful; mess; spate; heap; peck; stack; good deal; batch; tidy sum.
    • a batch of letters
    • a deal of trouble
    • a lot of money
    • he made a mint on the stock market
    • see the rest of the winners in our huge passel of photos
    • it must have cost plenty
    • a slew of journalists
    • a wad of money
  3. noun an ill-structured collection of similar things (objects or people)
  4. noun (Roman Catholic Church and Protestant Churches) the celebration of the Eucharist
  5. noun a body of matter without definite shape
    • a huge ice mass
  6. noun the common people generally
    people; masses; the great unwashed; hoi polloi; multitude.
    • separate the warriors from the mass
    • power to the people
  7. noun the property of something that is great in magnitude
    bulk; volume.
    • it is cheaper to buy it in bulk
    • he received a mass of correspondence
    • the volume of exports
  8. noun a musical setting for a Mass
    • they played a Mass composed by Beethoven
  9. noun a sequence of prayers constituting the Christian Eucharistic rite
    • the priest said Mass
  10. verb join together into a mass or collect or form a mass
    • Crowds were massing outside the palace
  11. adjective satellite formed of separate units gathered into a mass or whole
    aggregate; aggregated; aggregative.
    • aggregate expenses include expenses of all divisions combined for the entire year
    • the aggregated amount of indebtedness

WordNet

Mass noun
Etymology
OE. masse, messe, AS. mæsse. LL. missa, from L. mittere, missum, to send, dismiss: cf. F. messe. In the ancient churches, the public services at which the catechumens were permitted to be present were called missa catechumenorum, ending with the reading of the Gospel. Then they were dismissed with these words : "Ite, missa est" [sc. ecclesia], the congregation is dismissed. After that the sacrifice proper began. At its close the same words were said to those who remained. So the word gave the name of Mass to the sacrifice in the Catholic Church. See Missile, and cf. Christmas, Lammas, Mess a dish, Missal.
Definitions
  1. (R. C. Ch.) The sacrifice in the sacrament of the Eucharist, or the consecration and oblation of the host.
  2. (Mus.) The portions of the Mass usually set to music, considered as a musical composition; -- namely, the Kyrie, the Gloria, the Credo, the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei, besides sometimes an Offertory and the Benedictus.
Mass intransitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Massed ; present participle & verbal noun Massing
Definitions
  1. To celebrate Mass. Obs. Hooker.
Mass noun
Etymology
OE. masse, F. masse, L. massa; akin to Gr. a barley cake, fr. to knead. Cf. Macerate.
Definitions
  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; as, a mass of ore, metal, sand, or water.
    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. Sir I. Newton.
    A deep mass of continual sea is slower stirred To rage. Savile.
  2. (Phar.) A medicinal substance made into a cohesive, homogeneous lump, of consistency suitable for making pills; as, blue mass.
  3. A large quantity; a sum.
    All the mass of gold that comes into Spain. Sir W. Raleigh.
    He had spent a huge mass of treasure. Sir J. Davies.
  4. Bulk; magnitude; body; size.
    This army of such mass and charge. Shak.
  5. The principal part; the main body.
    Night closed upon the pursuit, and aided the mass of the fugitives in their escape. Jowett (Thucyd.).
  6. (Physics) The quantity of matter which a body contains, irrespective of its bulk or volume. ✍ Mass and weight are often used, in a general way, as interchangeable terms, since the weight of a body is proportional to its mass (under the same or equal gravitative forces), and the mass is usually ascertained from the weight. Yet the two ideas, mass and weight, are quite distinct. Mass is the quantity of matter in a body; weight is the comparative force with which it tends towards the center of the earth. A mass of sugar and a mass of lead are assumed to be equal when they show an equal weight by balancing each other in the scales.
Mass transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To form or collect into a mass; to form into a collective body; to bring together into masses; to assemble.
    But mass them together and they are terrible indeed. Coleridge.

Webster 1913