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masses

 [mas]   Origin

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 preceded 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.
EXPAND
6.
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.
COLLAPSE
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, especially 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.

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Masses is always a great word to know.
So is bezoar. Does it mean:
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...
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; Middle English masse < Latin massa mass < Greek mâza barley cake, akin to mássein to knead

Related forms
mass·ed·ly  [mas-id-lee, mast-lee] , adverb
un·massed, adjective

Can be confused: massed, mast.

Synonyms
2. assemblage, heap, congeries. 4. collection, accumulation, pile, conglomeration. 5. magnitude, dimension. See size1. 7. majority. 10. proletariat, plebeians. 17. collect, marshal, amass, aggregate.

Antonyms
17. disperse.

Dictionary.com Unabridged

mas·sé

   [ma-sey or, especially Brit., mas-ee]
noun Billiards.
a stroke made by hitting the cue ball with the cue held almost or quite perpendicular to the table.
Also called massé shot.

Origin:
1870–75; < French: literally, hammered, i.e., struck from above, straight down, equivalent to masse sledge hammer (Old French mace; see mace1) + -é -ee

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:
before 900; Middle English masse, Old English mæsse < Vulgar Latin *messa, Late Latin missa, formally feminine of Latin missus, past participle of mittere to send, dismiss; perhaps extracted from a phrase in the service with missa est and a feminine subject
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
masses (ˈmæsɪz)
 
—pl n
1.  the masses the body of common people
2.  informal chiefly (Brit) (often foll by of) great numbers or quantities: masses of food

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

mass
"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."
EXPAND

masses
"people of the lower class," 1837; plural of mass (1).
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

mass (mās)
n.

  1. A unified body of matter with no specific shape.

  2. A grouping of individual parts or elements that compose a unified body of unspecified size or quantity.

  3. The physical volume or bulk of a solid body.


  4. 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.

  5. A thick, pasty pharmacological mixture containing drugs from which pills are formed.

  6. One of the seven fundamental SI units, the kilogram.

  7. 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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American Heritage
Science Dictionary
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
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

mass definition


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
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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