Gross

a. [compar. GROSSER; superl. GROSSEST.] [Fr. & Pr. gros, It. & Pg. grosso, Sp. grueso, L. Lat. grossus, from Lat. crassus, thick, dense, fat. The Ger. grosz, Eng. great, is a different word, and probably not even allied. See GREAT.]

1Sense 1. Great; large; excessively or disproportionately large; bulky;—particularly applied to animals.

“A gross body of horse under the duke of Newcastle.” Milton.

2Sense 2. Coarse; rough; not fine or delicate.

3Sense 3. Not easily aroused or excited; not sensitive in perception or feeling; stupid.

Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear. Milton.

4Sense 4. Expressing, prompted by, or originating in, animal or sensual appetites; hence, vulgar; low; obscene; impure.

The terms which are delicate in one age become gross in the next. Macaulay.

5Sense 5. Thick; dense; not attenuated; as, a gross medium or material.

6Sense 6. Great; palpable; as, a gross mistake; gross injustice.

7Sense 7. Whole; entire; total; as, the gross sum, or gross amount, as opposed to a sum consisting of separate or specified parts.

Gross adventure (Law), the contract of bottomry.—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.

n. [Fr. gros; 2, Fr. grosse. See supra.] 1. The main body; the chief part; the bulk; the mass. “The gross of the enemy.” Addison. For the gross of the people, they are considered as a mere herd of cattle. Burke. 2. The number of twelve dozen; twelve times twelve; as, a gross of bottles. This word never has the plural form; as, five gross or ten gross. 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.—Common in gross (Law), that which is neither appendant nor appurtenant to land, but is annexed to a man's person.—Gross weight, the weight of merchandise or goods, with the dust and dross, the bag, cask, &c., in which they are contained. After an allowance is made of tare and tret, the remainder is denominated neat or net weight.—In the gross, in gross, in the bulk, or the whole undivided; all parts taken together.