apothecaries' ounce
- noun
- /əˈpɒθɪˌkɛriz aʊns/
- Archaic
:
onza de boticario
- The recipe called for one apothecaries' ounce of powdered rhubarb root.
Examples
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Pharmacists no longer use the apothecaries' ounce as a standard measure, but it appears in historical documents.
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An apothecaries' ounce weighs 480 grains.
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In the old medical texts, dosages were often listed in apothecaries' ounces and grains.
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The recipe calls for one apothecaries' ounce of herbs.
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In the old medical texts, dosages were often listed in apothecaries' ounces and grains.
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The recipe called for one apothecaries' ounce of powdered rhubarb root.
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An apothecaries' ounce is equivalent to 480 grains.
Synonyms
27
4.1
A weight used for gold and in old medicine, equal to one twelfth of a troy pound
1
7.9
A unit of weight for measuring precious metals like gold and silver, about 31 grams
Surface Forms
Morphology
apothecaries' + ounce
The noun is compositionally built from the possessive 'apothecaries'' (of apothecaries/pharmacists) plus 'ounce' (a unit of weight), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer it denotes a type of ounce used in the apothecary system. Although the exact quantity (480 grains) is specialist knowledge and not deducible from the words, the basic meaning as a specific kind of ounce is transparently derived from its parts.
Etymology
Apothecaries' ounce comes from old drug sellers called apothecaries' who used their own way to measure medicines. The word ounce in their system meant a small weight for a dose, so the phrase means 'an old medical unit of weight'.