# ton

Pronunciation: say "TUN" /tʌn/

## Noun

1. A large, excessive, or overwhelming quantity of something. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A very large amount or number of something.
   - _She gets a ton of email every single day._
   - _There were tons of people crowded outside the concert hall._
2. A unit of weight (mass) equal to 2,000 pounds (about 907 kg) in the US (short ton), 2,240 pounds (about 1,016 kg) in the UK (long ton), or 1,000 kilograms (metric ton, tonne).
   - Simple: A unit of weight: 2,000 pounds in the US, 2,240 pounds in the UK, or 1,000 kilograms (a metric ton).
   - _The freight container weighed just under one ton._
   - _Engineers rated the crane to lift forty tons safely._
3. A unit of volume equal to 100 cubic feet (about 2.83 m³), used to measure a ship's internal capacity.
   - Simple: A unit of size for ships equal to 100 cubic feet of space.
   - _The canal charged its tolls per ton of a ship's enclosed space, not per ton of the cargo it carried._
   - _Older ships were registered in tons of internal volume rather than weight._
4. A unit of thermal power equal to 12,000 BTU per hour (about 3.5 kW), roughly the cooling rate from melting one short ton of ice each day.
   - Simple: A unit of cooling power equal to about 3.5 kilowatts, used to rate air conditioners.
   - _The contractor sized the system at one ton for every 500 square feet._
   - _Larger buildings may need cooling units measured in dozens of tons._
5. A sum of 100 pounds sterling, in informal British usage. *(colloquial, UK)*
   - Simple: A sum of 100 pounds in British money.
   - _She lent her brother a ton until payday._
   - _The repair bill came to over a ton._
6. Informal, chiefly British: a score of 100, especially 100 runs by a batsman in cricket or 100 points in darts or snooker. *(colloquial, UK)*
   - Simple: A score of 100, such as 100 runs in cricket or 100 points in darts.
   - _He brought up his ton with a clean drive through the covers._
   - _The opener was on ninety-eight, agonizingly close to a ton._
7. A unit of volume for freight equal to 40 cubic feet in the US or 42 in the UK (about 1.1 or 1.2 m³).
   - Simple: A unit of cargo space equal to 40 cubic feet in the US.
   - _Freight was billed by the ton, each one equal to forty cubic feet._
   - _British shippers reckoned each ton at forty-two cubic feet of cargo._
8. A speed of 100 miles per hour. *(colloquial, UK)*
   - Simple: A speed of one hundred miles per hour.
   - _He claimed his motorbike could do a ton down the bypass._
   - _Pushing past a ton on a public road is reckless and illegal._
9. Fashionable society; the people regarded as stylish and of high social standing. (pronounced: US say "TAHN" /tɑn/; UK say "TON" /tɔ̃/)
   - Simple: The people who are rich and fashionable in society.
   - _Her marriage secured her a place among the ton._
   - _The whole ton gathered at the duchess's spring ball._

## Other meanings

- (noun) The current fashion or prevailing style of the moment.
- (noun) Synonym of tunny: a tuna, especially the Atlantic bluefin, once also called horse mackerel.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–8** — This is a variant of "tun" (meaning a cask), influenced by the Old French word "tonne" (ton).
**Meaning 9** — English took this from French ton, "manner," a word that goes back to Latin tonus. It shares that origin with tone, tune and tonus, which are doublets.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/ton (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).