Gross, a. [Compar. Grosser (; superl. Grossest.]
Etymology: [F. gros, L. grossus, perh. fr. L. crassus thick, dense, fat, E. crass, cf. Skr. grathita tied together, wound up, hardened. Cf. Engross, Grocer, Grogram.]
1. Great; large; bulky; fat; of huge size; excessively large. "A gross fat man." Shak. A gross body of horse under the Duke. Milton.
2. Coarse; rough; not fine or delicate.
3. Not easily aroused or excited; not sensitive in perception or feeling; dull; witless. Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear. Milton.
4. Expressing, Or originating in, animal or sensual appetites; hence, coarse, vulgar, low, obscene, or impure. The terms which are delicate in one age become gross in the next. Macaulay.
3 more senses
5. Thick; dense; not attenuated; as, a gross medium.
6. Great; palpable; serious; vagrant; shameful; as, a gross mistake; gross injustice; gross negligence.
7. Whole; entire; total; without deduction; as, the gross sum, or gross amount, the gross weight; -- opposed to net. Gross adventure (Law) the loan of money upon bottomry, i. e., on a mortgage of a ship. -- Gross average (Law), that kind of average which falls upon the gross or entire amount of ship, cargo, and freight; -- commonly called general average. Bouvier. Burrill. -- Gross receipts, the total of the receipts, before they are diminished by any deduction, as for expenses; -- distinguished from net profits. Abbott. -- Gross weight the total weight of merchandise or goods, without deduction for tare, tret, or waste; -- distinguished from neat, or net, weight.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Gross, n.
1. The main body; the chief part, bulk, or mass. "The gross of the enemy." Addison. For the gross of the people, they are considered as a mere herd of cattle. Burke.
2. sing. & pl.
The number of twelve dozen; twelve times twelve; as, a gross of bottles; ten gross of pens. Advowson in gross (Law), an advowson belonging to a person, and not to a manor. -- A great gross, twelve gross; one hundred and forty-four dozen. -- By the gross, by the quantity; at wholesale. -- Common in gross. (Law) See under Common, n. -- In the gross, In gross, in the bulk, or the undivided whole; all parts taken together.
Shades of meaning
Fernald lists gross only as an antonym, under pure.
He lists it without comment; the entries above explain its neighbors.