mass definition | Dictionary.com

mass

[mas]

–noun

1.	a body of coherent matter, usually of indefinite shape and often of considerable size: a mass of dough.

2.	a collection of incoherent particles, parts, or objects regarded as forming one body: a mass of sand.

3.	aggregate; whole (usually prec. by in the): People, in the mass, mean well.

4.	a considerable assemblage, number, or quantity: a mass of errors; a mass of troops.

5.	bulk, size, expanse, or massiveness: towers of great mass and strength.

Fine Arts.

a.	Painting. an expanse of color or tone that defines form or shape in general outline rather than in detail.

b.	a shape or three-dimensional volume that has or gives the illusion of having weight, density, and bulk.

7.	the main body, bulk, or greater part of anything: the great mass of American films.

8.	Physics. the quantity of matter as determined from its weight or from Newton's second law of motion. Abbreviation: m Compare weight (def. 2), relativistic mass, rest mass.

9.	Pharmacology. a preparation of thick, pasty consistency, from which pills are made.

10.	the masses, the ordinary or common people as a whole; the working classes or the lower social classes.

–adjective

11.	pertaining to, involving, or affecting a large number of people: mass unemployment; mass migrations; mass murder.

12.	participated in or performed by a large number of people, esp. together in a group: mass demonstrations; mass suicide.

13.	pertaining to, involving, or characteristic of the mass of the people: the mass mind; a movie designed to appeal to a mass audience.

14.	reaching or designed to reach a large number of people: television, newspapers, and other means of mass communication.

15.	done on a large scale or in large quantities: mass destruction.

–verb (used without object)

16.	to come together in or form a mass or masses: The clouds are massing in the west.

–verb (used with object)

17.	to gather into or dispose in a mass or masses; assemble: The houses are massed in blocks.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME masse < L massa mass < Gk mâza barley cake, akin to mássein to knead

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

Mass

[mas]

–noun

1.	the celebration of the Eucharist. Compare High Mass, Low Mass.

2.	(sometimes lowercase) a musical setting of certain parts of this service, as the Kyrie eleison, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME masse, OE mæsse < VL *messa, LL missa, formally fem. of L missus, ptp. of mittere to send, dismiss; perh. extracted from a phrase in the service with missa est and a fem. subject

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
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Mass.

Massachusetts.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

mass (mās) Pronunciation Key
n.

A unified body of matter with no specific shape: a mass of clay.
A grouping of individual parts or elements that compose a unified body of unspecified size or quantity: "Take mankind in mass, and for the most part, they seem a mob of unnecessary duplicates" (Herman Melville).
A large but nonspecific amount or number: a mass of bruises.
A lump or aggregate of coherent material: a cancerous mass.
The principal part; the majority: the mass of the continent.
The physical volume or bulk of a solid body.
Abbr. m Physics A property of matter equal to the measure of an object's resistance to changes in either the speed or direction of its motion. The mass of an object is not dependent on gravity and therefore is different from but proportional to its weight.
An area of unified light, shade, or color in a painting.
Pharmacology A thick, pasty mixture containing drugs from which pills are formed.
masses The body of common people or people of low socioeconomic status: "Give me your tired, your poor,/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" (Emma Lazarus).

tr. & intr.v. massed, mass·ing, mass·es
To gather or be gathered into a mass.
adj.

Of, relating to, characteristic of, directed at, or attended by a large number of people: mass education; mass communication.
Done or carried out on a large scale: mass production.
Total; complete: The mass result is impressive.

[Middle English masse, from Old French, from Latin massa, from Greek māza, maza; see mag- in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Mass also mass (mās) Pronunciation Key
n.

1. Public celebration of the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic Church and some Protestant churches.
2. The sacrament of the Eucharist.
A musical setting of certain parts of the Mass, especially the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.

[Middle English masse, from Old English mæsse, from Vulgar Latin *messa, from Late Latin missa, from Latin, feminine past participle of mittere, to send away, dismiss.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
mass (1)

"lump, quantity, size," c.1400, from O.Fr. masse "lump" (11c.), from L. massa "kneaded dough, lump, that which adheres together like dough," from Gk. maza "barley cake, lump, mass, ball," related to massein "to knead," from PIE base *mag-/*meg- "to knead" (cf. Lith. minkyti "to knead," see macerate). Sense extended 1585 to "a large quantity, amount, or number." Strict sense in physics is from 1704. Verb meaning "to gather in a mass" is attested from 1563. The masses "people of the lower class" is from 1837. Mass meeting is first attested 1733 in Amer.Eng.; mass production is from 1920; and mass media is first recorded 1923.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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mass (2)

"Eucharistic service," O.E. mæsse, from V.L. *messa "eucharistic service," lit. "dismissal," from L.L. missa "dismissal," fem. pp. of mittere "to let go, send," from concluding words of the service, Ite, missa est, "Go, (the prayer) has been sent," or "Go, it is the dismissal."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

mass
adjective
1.	formed of separate units gathered into a mass or whole; "aggregate expenses include expenses of all divisions combined for the entire year"; "the aggregated amount of indebtedness" [syn: aggregate]
noun
1.	the property of a body that causes it to have weight in a gravitational field
2.	(often followed by 'of') a large number or amount or extent; "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" [syn: batch]
3.	an ill-structured collection of similar things (objects or people)
4.	(Roman Catholic Church and Protestant Churches) the celebration of the Eucharist
5.	a body of matter without definite shape; "a huge ice mass"
6.	the common people generally; "separate the warriors from the mass"; "power to the people" [syn: multitude]
7.	the property of something that is great in magnitude; "it is cheaper to buy it in bulk"; "he received a mass of correspondence"; "the volume of exports" [syn: bulk]
8.	a musical setting for a Mass; "they played a Mass composed by Beethoven"
9.	a sequence of prayers constituting the Christian Eucharistic rite; "the priest said Mass"
verb
1.	join together into a mass or collect or form a mass; "Crowds were massing outside the palace"

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

mass (mās) Pronunciation Key

A measure of the amount of matter contained in or constituting a physical body. In classical mechanics, the mass of an object is related to the force required to accelerate it and hence is related to its inertia, and is essential to Newton's laws of motion. Objects that have mass interact with each other through the force of gravity. In Special Relativity, the observed mass of an object is dependent on its velocity with respect to the observer, with higher velocity entailing higher observed mass. Mass is measured in many different units; in most scientific applications, the SI unit of kilogram is used. See Note at weight. See also rest energy , General Relativity.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
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American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
Mass

The common name in the Roman Catholic Church, and among some members of the Anglican Communion, for the sacrament of Communion.

Note: In the Middle Ages in England, mass meant a religious feast day in honor of a specific person; thus, “Christ's Mass,” or Christmas, is the feast day of Christ; and Michaelmas is the feast day of the angel Michael.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
Mass

In music, a musical setting for the texts used in the Christian Church at the celebration of the Mass, or sacrament of Communion. Most Masses have been written for use in the Roman Catholic Church.

Note: Many composers have written Masses; among them are Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Josef Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, Leonard Bernstein, and Duke Ellington.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
mass

In physics, the property of matter that measures its resistance to acceleration. Roughly, the mass of an object is a measure of the number of atoms in it. The basic unit of measurement for mass is the kilogram. (See Newton's laws of motion; compare weight.)

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
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Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

mass (mās)
n.

A unified body of matter with no specific shape.
A grouping of individual parts or elements that compose a unified body of unspecified size or quantity.
The physical volume or bulk of a solid body.
Abbr. m The measure of the quantity of matter that a body or an object contains. The mass of the body is not dependent on gravity and therefore is different from but proportional to its weight.
A thick, pasty pharmacological mixture containing drugs from which pills are formed.
One of the seven fundamental SI units, the kilogram.
See massa.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: mass
Pronunciation: 'mas
Function: noun
1 : the property of a body that is a measure of its inertia, that is commonly taken as a measureof the amount of material it contains, that causes it to have weight in a gravitational field, and that along with length and time constitutes one of the fundamental quantities on which all physicalmeasurements are based
2 : a homogeneous pasty mixture compounded for making pills, lozenges, and plasters mass>

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: mass
Function: noun
: an aggregation of usually similar things (as assets in a succession) considered as a whole

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: mass
Function: adjective
: participated in by or affecting a large number of individuals <mass insurance underwriting> <mass tort litigation>

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Mass

Mass\, n. [OE. masse, messe, AS. m[ae]sse. 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.]

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.

Canon of the Mass. See Canon.

High Mass, Mass with incense, music, the assistance of a deacon, subdeacon, etc.

Low Mass, Mass which is said by the priest through-out, without music.

Mass bell, the sanctus bell. See Sanctus.

Mass book, the missal or Roman Catholic service book.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Mass

Mass\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Massed; p. pr. & vb. n. Massing.] To celebrate Mass. [Obs.] --Hooker.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Mass

Mass\, n. [OE. masse, F. masse, L. massa; akin to Gr. ? a barley cake, fr. ? to knead. Cf. Macerate.]

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.

Note: 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.

Blue mass. See under Blue.

Mass center (Geom.), the center of gravity of a triangle.

Mass copper, native copper in a large mass.

Mass meeting, a large or general assembly of people, usually a meeting having some relation to politics.

The masses, the great body of the people, as contrasted with the higher classes; the populace.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Mass

Mass\, v. t. 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.