Pound, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pounded; p. pr. & vb. n. Pounding.]
Etymology: [OE. pounen, AS. punian to bruise. Cf. Pun a play on words.]
1. To strike repeatedly with some heavy instrument; to beat. With cruel blows she pounds her blubbered cheeks. Dryden.
2. To comminute and pulverize by beating; to bruise or break into fine particles with a pestle or other heavy instrument; as, to pound spice or salt.
4 other Webster entries under this spelling
Pound, v. i.
1. To strike heavy blows; to beat.
2. (Mach.)
To make a jarring noise, as in running; as, the engine pounds.
Pound, n.
1. An inclosure, maintained by public authority, in which cattle or other animals are confined when taken in trespassing, or when going at large in violation of law; a pinfold. Shak.
2. A level stretch in a canal between locks.
3. (Fishing)
A kind of net, having a large inclosure with a narrow entrance into which fish are directed by wings spreading outward. Pound covert, a pound that is close or covered over, as a shed. -- Pound overt, a pound that is open overhead.
Pound, v. t.
To confine in, or as in, a pound; to impound. Milton.
Pound, n; pl. Pounds, collectively Pound pr Pounds.
1. A certain specified weight; especially, a legal standard consisting of an established number of ounces.
Note: The pound in general use in the United States and in England is the pound avoirdupois, which is divided into sixteen ounces, and contains 7,000 grains. The pound troy is divided into twelve ounces, and contains 5,760 grains. 144 pounds avoirdupois are equal to 175 pounds troy weight. See Avoirdupois, and Troy.
2. A British denomination of money of account, equivalent to twenty shillings sterling, and equal in value to about $4.86. There is no coin known by this name, but the gold sovereign is of the same value.
Note: The pound sterling was in Saxon times, about A. D. 671, a pound troy of silver, and a shilling was its twentieth part; consequently the latter was three times as large as it is at present. Peacham.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for pound; he lists it under beat.
Where he writes about it:
Others of the above words describe the manner of beating, as bastinado, to beat on the soles of the feet; belabor, to inflict a comprehensive and exhaustive beating; cudgel, to beat with a stick; thrash, as wheat was beaten out with the old hand-flail; to pound (akin to L. pondus, a weight) is to beat with a heavy, and pommel with a blunt, instrument. — from beat