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unit - 8 dictionary results
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u⋅nit

  [yoo-nit]
Use unit in a Sentence
–noun
1. a single thing or person.
2. any group of things or persons regarded as an entity: They formed a cohesive unit.
3. one of the individuals or groups that together constitute a whole; one of the parts or elements into which a whole may be divided or analyzed.
4. one of a number of things, organizations, etc., identical or equivalent in function or form: a rental unit; a unit of rolling stock.
5. any magnitude regarded as an independent whole; a single, indivisible entity.
6. Also called dimension. any specified amount of a quantity, as of length, volume, force, momentum, or time, by comparison with which any other quantity of the same kind is measured or estimated.
7. the least positive integer; one.
8. Also called unit's place.
a. (in a mixed number) the position of the first digit to the left of the decimal point.
b. (in a whole number) the position of the first digit from the right of the decimal point.
9. a machine, part, or system of machines having a specified purpose; apparatus: a heating unit.
10. Education. a division of instruction centering on a single theme.
11. Military. an organized body of soldiers, varying in size and constituting a subdivision of a larger body.
12. Medicine/Medical.
a. the measured amount of a substance necessary to cause a certain effect; a clinical quantity used when a substance cannot be readily isolated in pure form and its activity determined directly.
b. the amount necessary to cause a specific effect upon a specific animal or upon animal tissues.
13. Mathematics.
a. an identity element.
b. an element in a group, ring, etc., that possesses an inverse.
Origin:
1570; coined by John Dee as a trans. of Gk mónas (previously rendered as unity); perh. influenced by digit

Unit.

 
Unitarian.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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u·nit   (yōō'nĭt)   
n.  
  1. An individual, group, structure, or other entity regarded as an elementary structural or functional constituent of a whole.
  2. A group regarded as a distinct entity within a larger group.
    1. A mechanical part or module.
    2. An entire apparatus or the equipment that performs a specific function.
    3. A fixed amount of scholastic study used as a basis for calculating academic credits, usually measured in hours of classroom instruction or laboratory work.
    4. A section of an academic course focusing on a selected theme: a unit on Native Americans.
    5. The lowest positive whole number; one.
    6. An element of a ring with a multiplicative inverse.
  4. A precisely specified quantity in terms of which the magnitudes of other quantities of the same kind can be stated.
  5. Medicine The quantity of a vaccine, serum, drug, or other agent necessary to produce a specific effect.
    1. A fixed amount of scholastic study used as a basis for calculating academic credits, usually measured in hours of classroom instruction or laboratory work.
    2. A section of an academic course focusing on a selected theme: a unit on Native Americans.
    3. The lowest positive whole number; one.
    4. An element of a ring with a multiplicative inverse.
  7. The number immediately to the left of the decimal point in the Arabic numeral system.
  8. Mathematics
    1. The lowest positive whole number; one.
    2. An element of a ring with a multiplicative inverse.

[Back-formation from unity.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Unit

U"nit\, n. [Abbrev. from unity.]

1. A single thing or person.

2. (Arith.) The least whole number; one.

Units are the integral parts of any large number. --I. Watts.

3. A gold coin of the reign of James I., of the value of twenty shillings. --Camden.

4. Any determinate amount or quantity (as of length, time, heat, value) adopted as a standard of measurement for other amounts or quantities of the same kind.

5. (Math.) A single thing, as a magnitude or number, regarded as an undivided whole.

Abstract unit, the unit of numeration; one taken in the abstract; the number represented by 1. The term is used in distinction from concrete, or determinate, unit, that is, a unit in which the kind of thing is expressed; a unit of measure or value; as 1 foot, 1 dollar, 1 pound, and the like.

Complex unit (Theory of Numbers), an imaginary number of the form a + broot-1, when a^2 + b^2 = 1.

Duodecimal unit, a unit in the scale of numbers increasing or decreasing by twelves.

Fractional unit, the unit of a fraction; the reciprocal of the denominator; thus, 1/4 is the unit of the fraction 3/4.

Integral unit, the unit of integral numbers, or 1.

Physical unit, a value or magnitude conventionally adopted as a unit or standard in physical measurements. The various physical units are usually based on given units of length, mass, and time, and on the density or other properties of some substance, for example, water. See Dyne, Erg, Farad, Ohm, Poundal, etc.

Unit deme (Biol.), a unit of the inferior order or orders of individuality.

Unit jar (Elec.), a small, insulated Leyden jar, placed between the electrical machine and a larger jar or battery, so as to announce, by its repeated discharges, the amount of electricity passed into the larger jar.

Unit of heat (Physics), a determinate quantity of heat adopted as a unit of measure; a thermal unit (see under Thermal). Water is the substance generally employed, the unit being one gram or one pound, and the temperature interval one degree of the Centigrade or Fahrenheit scale. When referred to the gram, it is called the gram degree. The British unit of heat, or thermal unit, used by engineers in England and in the United States, is the quantity of heat necessary to raise one pound of pure water at and near its temperature of greatest density (39.1[deg] Fahr.) through one degree of the Fahrenheit scale. --Rankine.

Unit of illumination, the light of a sperm candle burning 120 grains per hour. Standard gas, burning at the rate of five cubic feet per hour, must have an illuminating power equal to that of fourteen such candles.

Unit of measure (as of length, surface, volume, dry measure, liquid measure, money, weight, time, and the like), in general, a determinate quantity or magnitude of the kind designated, taken as a standard of comparison for others of the same kind, in assigning to them numerical values, as 1 foot, 1 yard, 1 mile, 1 square foot, 1 square yard, 1 cubic foot, 1 peck, 1 bushel, 1 gallon, 1 cent, 1 ounce, 1 pound, 1 hour, and the like; more specifically, the fundamental unit adopted in any system of weights, measures, or money, by which its several denominations are regulated, and which is itself defined by comparison with some known magnitude, either natural or empirical, as, in the United States, the dollar for money, the pound avoirdupois for weight, the yard for length, the gallon of 8.3389 pounds avoirdupois of water at 39.8[deg] Fahr. (about 231 cubic inches) for liquid measure, etc.; in Great Britain, the pound sterling, the pound troy, the yard, or 1/108719 part of the length of a second's pendulum at London, the gallon of 277.274 cubic inches, etc.; in the metric system, the meter, the liter, the gram, etc.

Unit of power. (Mach.) See Horse power.

Unit of resistance. (Elec.) See Resistance, n., 4, and Ohm.

Unit of work (Physics), the amount of work done by a unit force acting through a unit distance, or the amount required to lift a unit weight through a unit distance against gravitation. See Erg, Foot Pound, Kilogrammeter.

Unit stress (Mech. Physics), stress per unit of area; intensity of stress. It is expressed in ounces, pounds, tons, etc., per square inch, square foot, or square yard, etc., or in atmospheres, or inches of mercury or water, or the like.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : unit
Spanish: unidad,
German: die Einheit,
Japanese: 構成単位
More Translations »

unit 
1570, "single number regarded as an undivided whole," alteration of unity on the basis of digit. Popularized in John Dee's Eng. translation of Euclid, to express Gk. monas (Dee says unity formerly was used in this sense). Meaning "single thing regarded as a member of a group" is attested from 1642. Extended sense of "a quantity adopted as a standard of measure" is from 1738. Sense of "group of wards in a hospital" is attested from 1893.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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unit

See specialist unitunit of tradingunit share.

Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms by David L. Scott.
Copyright © 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Main Entry: unit
Pronunciation: 'yü-n&t
Function: noun
1 : an amount of a biologically active agent (as a drug or antigen) required toproduce a specific result under strictly controlled conditions unit of penicillin>
2 : a molecule or portion of a molecule especially as combined in a largermolecule
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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unit u·nit (y&oomacr;'nĭt)
n.

  1. An entity regarded as an elementary structural or functional constituent of a whole.
  2. A precisely specified quantity in terms of which the magnitudes of other quantities of the same kind can be stated.
  3. The quantity of a serum, drug, or other agent necessary to produce a specific effect.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
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