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TON

[tuhn]

noun

a unit of weight, equivalent to 2000 pounds (0.907 metric ton) avoirdupois (short ton) in the U.S. and 2240 pounds (1.016 metric tons) avoirdupois (long ton) in Great Britain.

Also called freight ton. a unit of volume for freight that weighs one ton, varying with the type of freight measured, as 40 cubic feet of oak timber or 20 bushels of wheat.

metric ton.

displacement ton.

a unit of volume used in transportation by sea, commonly equal to 40 cubic feet (1.13 cu. m) (shipping ton or measurement ton).

EXPAND

a unit of internal capacity of ships, equal to 100 cubic feet (2.83 cu. m) (register ton).

Often, tons. Informal. a great quantity; a lot: a ton of jokes; tons of wedding presents.

British Informal. a speed of 100 miles per hour.

COLLAPSE

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English; variant of tun

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Ton is always a great word to know.

So is callithumpian. Does it mean:

a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.

a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.

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Example Sentences

The problem is that both books contain an article's worth of ideas and a ton of padding.

But, there will also be a few lows and a ton of hard work.

The humpback, in particular, can eat more than a ton of krill in one day.

EXPAND

The problem is that both books contain an article's worth of ideas and a ton of padding.

But, there will also be a few lows and a ton of hard work.

The humpback, in particular, can eat more than a ton of krill in one day.

In addition to the carbon dioxide emitted while using the fuel, the production process creates almost a ton of.

There's a ton of research that shows playing games with people actually improves relationships with them.

Wood is heavy enough as it is, but combined with all those bolted-on brackets it likely weighs a ton.

There aren't a ton of jobs being posted right now due to the economy, but by the time you are graduating, it should pick up.

Japanese carmakers saved a ton of money from not having to finance expensive inventories around the world.

Adults grow up to eight feet long and can weigh a ton.

And at the same time save everyone in this country a ton of wasted cash.

There is a ton of well-researched, fascinating information with terrific and terrifying stories from history.

What resulted was a tennis game that's a ton of fun, overall.

If you drive a car that's rated for a history of small losses, you can save a ton on a high deductible.

The real problem here is that governments make a ton of money from alcohol taxes.

He does field research on anacondas, which can weigh more than half a ton.

It would save a ton of oil, and gasoline might be cheaper.

Judging by the excitement in this video, preparing the clear goo is a ton of fun.

And colleges-well, colleges have a ton of information.

Can you imagine having to vault three quarters of a ton upwards from underneath the vehicle into a confined engine compartment.

Sponges have to filter about a ton of water for each ounce of food they ingest.

Airplanes, by comparison, can only move that same ton a few feet for the same dollar.

It has a ton of potential, and they've done something with that potential over the last few years.

Techinically speaking, cloud computing can be readily realized and it has a ton of business cost saving applications.

September is the month when lots of kids go back to school, and so we've been posting a ton of reviews of books about school.

There's probably only about a quart of water in every ton of lunar soil.

It isn't a bug enough disadvantage to spend a ton of money going somewhere else, tho.

However, if you throw a ton of garbage out, there must be a hole where you dug a ton of stuff to make the garbage.

There are a ton of parks and outdoor activities to do, and there are some pretty decent restaurants too.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun, plural tons

[Fr. tawn] .

high fashion; stylishness.

the current fashion, style, or vogue.

Origin:
1755–65; < French < Latin tonus tone

Related forms

ton·ish, ton·nish

[ton-ish] , adjective

ton·ish·ly, ton·nish·ly, adverb

ton·ish·ness, ton·nish·ness, noun

a suffix formerly used to form nouns from adjectives: simpleton; singleton.

Origin:
variant of dial. tone one (see tother)

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To TON

Collins

World English Dictionary

ton¹ (tʌn)

—n
1.	(Brit) Also called: long ton a unit of weight equal to 2240 pounds or 1016.046909 kilograms
2.	(US) short ton, Also called: net ton a unit of weight equal to 2000 pounds or 907.184 kilograms
3.	metric ton, Also called: tonne a unit of weight equal to 1000 kilograms
4.	Also called: freight ton a unit of volume or weight used for charging or measuring freight in shipping. It depends on the type of material being shipped but is often taken as 40 cubic feet, 1 cubic metre, or 1000 kilograms: freight is charged at £40 per ton of 1 cubic metre
5.	measurement ton, Also called: shipping ton a unit of volume used in shipping freight, equal to 40 cubic feet, irrespective of the commodity shipped
6.	Also called: displacement ton a unit used for measuring the displacement of a ship, equal to 35 cubic feet of sea water or 2240 pounds
7.	Also called: register ton a unit of internal capacity of ships equal to 100 cubic feet

[C14: variant of tun]

ton² (tɔ̃)

—n
	style, fashion, or distinction

[C18: from French, from Latin tonustone]

ton³ (tʌn)

—n
	slang chiefly (Brit) a score or achievement of a hundred, esp a hundred miles per hour, as on a motorcycle

[C20: special use of ton¹ applied to quantities of one hundred]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

ton

late 14c., tonne, unit for measuring the carrying capacity of a ship, originally "space occupied by a tun or cask of wine," thus identical to tun (q.v.). The two words were not differentiated until 1680s. The measure of weight is first recorded late 15c.; the spelling ton is

EXPAND

from 1530s, and became firmly established 18c. Tonnage (early 15c.) originally was "tax or duty on wine imported in tuns." Modern tonne (1877) is the Fr. form of the word, adopted for Eng. use to denote a metric ton (1,000 kg.).

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

ton (tŭn) Pronunciation Key

A unit of weight in the US Customary System equal to 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms). Also called short ton. See Table at measurement.
A unit of weight in the US Customary System equal to 2,240 pounds (1,008 kilograms). Also called long ton. See Table at measurement.
See metric ton.

American Heritage

Abbreviations & Acronyms

TON
threshold odor number

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

ton

see like a ton of bricks.

Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia

ton

unit of weight in the avoirdupois system equal to 2,000 pounds (907.18 kg) in the United States (the short ton) and 2,240 pounds (1,016.05 kg) in Britain (the long ton). The metric ton used in most other countries is 1,000 kg, equivalent to 2,204.6 pounds avoirdupois. The term derives from tun, denoting a large barrel used in the wine trade and named from the French tonnerre, or "thunder," in turn named for the rumbling it produced when rolled. Ton came to mean any large weight, until it was standardized at 20 hundredweight although the total weight could be 2,000, 2,160, 2,240, or 2,400 pounds (from 907.18 to 1088.62 kg) depending on whether the corresponding hundredweight contained 100, 108, 112, or 120 pounds

Learn more about ton with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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"By his machines man can dive and remain under water like a shark; can fly like a hawk in the air; can see atoms like a gnat; can see the system of the universe of Uriel, the angel of the sun; can carry whatever loads a ton of coal can lift; can knock down cities with his fist of gunpowder; can recover the history of his race by the medals which the deluge, and every creature, civil or savage or brute, has involuntarily dropped of its existence; and divine the future possibility of the planet and its inhabitants by his perception of laws of nature."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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