Noun: mass
| Singular | mass |
| Plural | masses |
Sample Sentences
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And 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 ; […]. [1718 [1704], Isaac Newton, Opticks, 2nd edition:]
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[…] and because a deep mass of continual sea is slower stirred to rage. [1821 [1582], George Buchanan, The History of Scotland, from the Earliest Accounts of that Nation, to the Reign of King James VI, volume 1 (in English), translation of Rerum Scoticarum Historia by an unnamed translator, page 133:]
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Right in the midst the Goddesse selfe did stand / Upon an altar of some costly masse […]. [1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.10:]
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blue mass
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Near-synonym: lump
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After all, muscle maniacs go "ga ga" over mass no matter how it's presented. [1988, Steve Holman, “Christian Conquers Columbus”, in Ironman, volume 47, number 6, pages 28–34:]
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[…]he hath discovered to me the way to five or six of the richest mines which the Spaniard hath, and whence all the mass of gold that comes into Spain in effect is drawn. [1829, Sir Walter Raleigh, The Works of Sir Walter Ralegh, Kt, volume VIII:]
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For though he had spent a huge mass of treasure in transporting his army, […]. [1869, Alexander George Richey, Lectures on the History of Ireland: Down to A. D. 1534, page 204:]
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Witness this army of such mass and charge / Led by a delicate and tender prince, [c. 1599-1601, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, act 4, scene 4:]
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Night closed upon the pursuit, and aided the mass of the fugitives in their escape. [1881, Thucydides, translated by Benjamin Jowett, Thucydides translated into English, volume 1, page 310:]
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The mass of spectators didn't see the infraction on the field.
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A mass of ships converged on the beaches of Dunkirk.
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Generals gathered in their masses / Just like witches at black masses [1970, “War Pigs”, in Paranoid, performed by Black Sabbath:]
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The masses are revolting.
Nouns inflected like mass
penniless-bench,
wintergrass,
kitchen pass,
grey fox,
grey box,
trailer hitch,
paleness,
loaded march,
Tush Push,
horribleness,
slaughteress,
chapparvovirus,
greenwax,
royal flush,
crab cactus,
geostress,
syngas,
wintercress,
ichthys,
ichthus, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
1. In late Middle English (circa 1400) as masse in the sense of "lump, quantity of matter", from Anglo-Norman masse, in Old French attested from the 11th century, via late Latin massa (“lump, dough”), from Ancient Greek μᾶζα (mâza, “barley-cake, lump (of dough)”). The Greek noun may be derived from the verb μάσσω (mássō, “to knead”), ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European *maǵ- (“to oil, knead”), although this is uncertain. Doublet of masa.
2. The sense of "a large number or quantity" arises circa 1580. The scientific sense is from 1687 (as Latin massa) in the works of Isaac Newton, with the first English use (as mass) occurring in 1704. See: Latin Nouns '
massa', Ancient Greek Nouns '
μᾶζα'.
Verbs referencing "mass"
Greek Nouns
μάζα.