Mass

n. [Fr. masse, Pr., Pg., & It. massa, Sp. masa, Lat. massa; Ger. masse, allied to Gr. μᾶζα, a barley-cake, from μάσσειν, to knead.]

1Sense 1. A body of matter concreted, assembled, or formed into a lump; a lump; a great quantity collected; a heap; a collective body; an assemblage; a confused or indiscrete body.

They lose their forms, and make a mass Confused and black, if brought too near. Prior.

2Sense 2. Bulk; magnitude; body; size. “This army of such mass and charge.” Shak.

3Sense 3. Many things considered collectively, without discrimination of parts; chief component portion; principal part; main body.

Comets have power over the mass of things. Bacon.

4Sense 4. (Physics.) The quantity of matter which a body contains, irrespective of its bulk or volume. It is proportional to the body’s weight, though the two terms are not identical.

The masses, the people in general, as distinguished from the less numerous privileged classes; the populace.

n. [A-S. mæsse, messe, Fr. messe, It. messa, Sp. misa; D. mis, misse, Ger. & Dan. messe, Sw. & Icel. messa; L. Lat. missa, from Lat. mittere, missum, to send, dismiss. In the ancient churches, the public services at which the catechumens were permitted to be present were called missa catechumenorum, because at the close of them proclamation was made thus: Ite, missa est, sc. ecclesia. Then followed the communion service, which was called missa fidelium, and which, under the name of missa, or the mass, still constitutes the principal part of public worship in the Roman Catholic churches. Murdock.] The communion service, or the consecration and oblation of the host, in the Roman Catholic churches.

High mass, that which is sung or chanted, as distinguished from low mass, which is read, and not chanted.

[imp. & p. p. MASSED (măst); p. pr. & vb. n. MASSING.] To celebrate mass. [Obs.] Hooker.

v. t. 1. To fill; to stuff; to strengthen. [Obs.] 2. To form into a mass; to form into a collective body; to bring together into masses; to assemble. But mass them together and they are terrible indeed. Coleridge.