Defn: 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)
Defn: 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.
MASS
Mass, v. t.
Defn: 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.
MASSACRE Mas"sa*cre, n. Etym: [F., fr. LL. mazacrium; cf. Prov. G. metzgern, metzgen, to kill cattle, G. metzger a butcher, and LG. matsken to cut, hew, OHG. meizan to cut, Goth. máitan.]