lispound
(ˈlɪspaʊnd)
Also 6 lespund, lesh pund, 7–8 leispound, (8 lispond), 8–9 lispund.
[ad. LG. and Du. lispund, contr. f. livsch pund ‘Livonian pound’ = med.L. livonicum talentum. (An example, in the form lispunt, is quoted by Du Cange from a Polish document of 1454.)]
A unit of weight used in the Baltic trade, and in Orkney and Shetland, varying at different periods and in different localities from 12 to 30 pounds.
| 1545 Rates Custom Ho. d vj, viii lyspoundes facit .c. li. xx. lispoundes facit a shyp pounde. 1597 Skene De Verb. Signif. s.v. Serplaith, Ane stane and twa pound Scottish makis ane lesh pund. 1693 J. Wallace Orkney 92 Leispound a weight of their Victual, which contains 24 of their Merks: it is also called a Setten. This answers to 28 of our pounds. 1793 Statist. Acc. Scot., Shetl. V. 197 The butter..is delivered to the landlord in certain cases by the lispond. This denomination of weight consisted originally of only 12 Scotch or Dutch pounds. By various acts..it has been gradually raised to 30 lb. 1822 Scott Pirate i. Eight lispunds of butter. 1837 G. G. Macdougall Graah's E. Coast Greenland 33 A tribute of 127 lispounds of walrus-teeth. 1858 Homans Cycl. Commerce 1635 [At Riga] the lispound = 20 lbs. [= 18·4 lbs. avoirdupois]. |