On an average

On an average
Average Av"er*age, n. [OF. average, LL. averagium, prob. fr. OF. aver, F. avoir, property, horses, cattle, etc.; prop. infin., to have, from L. habere to have. Cf. F. av['e]rage small cattle, and avarie (perh. of different origin) damage to ship or cargo, port dues. The first meaning was perhaps the service of carting a feudal lord's wheat, then charge for carriage, the contribution towards loss of things carried, in proportion to the amount of each person's property. Cf. {Aver}, n., {Avercorn}, {Averpenny}.] 1. (OLd Eng. Law) That service which a tenant owed his lord, to be done by the work beasts of the tenant, as the carriage of wheat, turf, etc. [1913 Webster]

2. [Cf. F. avarie damage to ship or cargo.] (Com.) (a) A tariff or duty on goods, etc. [Obs.] (b) Any charge in addition to the regular charge for freight of goods shipped. (c) A contribution to a loss or charge which has been imposed upon one of several for the general benefit; damage done by sea perils. (d) The equitable and proportionate distribution of loss or expense among all interested. [1913 Webster]

{General average}, a contribution made, by all parties concerned in a sea adventure, toward a loss occasioned by the voluntary sacrifice of the property of some of the parties in interest for the benefit of all. It is called general average, because it falls upon the gross amount of ship, cargo, and freight at risk and saved by the sacrifice. --Kent.

{Particular average} signifies the damage or partial loss happening to the ship, or cargo, or freight, in consequence of some fortuitous or unavoidable accident; and it is borne by the individual owners of the articles damaged, or by their insurers.

{Petty averages} are sundry small charges, which occur regularly, and are necessarily defrayed by the master in the usual course of a voyage; such as port charges, common pilotage, and the like, which formerly were, and in some cases still are, borne partly by the ship and partly by the cargo. In the clause commonly found in bills of lading, ``primage and average accustomed,'' average means a kind of composition established by usage for such charges, which were formerly assessed by way of average. --Arnould. --Abbott. --Phillips. [1913 Webster]

3. A mean proportion, medial sum or quantity, made out of unequal sums or quantities; an arithmetical mean. Thus, if A loses 5 dollars, B 9, and C 16, the sum is 30, and the average 10. [1913 Webster]

4. Any medial estimate or general statement derived from a comparison of diverse specific cases; a medium or usual size, quantity, quality, rate, etc. ``The average of sensations.'' --Paley. [1913 Webster]

5. pl. In the English corn trade, the medial price of the several kinds of grain in the principal corn markets. [1913 Webster]

{On an average}, taking the mean of unequal numbers or quantities. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР
Synonyms:

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Average Joe (TV series) — Average Joe Genre Reality Television Directed by Tony Croll Jason Raff (Season 1) Country of origin United States Language(s) English No. of seasons …   Wikipedia

  • average — n Average, mean, median, norm, par denote something and usually a number, a quantity, or a condition that represents a middle point between extremes. Of these words average, mean, median, and par are also used as adjectives. Average is an… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • average — [av′ər ij, av′rij] n. [altered (by assoc. with ME average, money rent paid in place of service by the tenant with his horses < aver, draft horse) < OFr avarie, damage to ship or goods, mooring charges < OIt avaria < Ar ʿ awār, damaged …   English World dictionary

  • average — I (midmost) adjective center, centermost, intermediate, mean, mean proportioned, medial, median, mediate, medium, mid, middle, middle class, middle grade, middlemost, middling associated concepts: average annual earnings or wages, average capital …   Law dictionary

  • Average path length — is a concept in network topology that is defined as the average number of steps along the shortest paths for all possible pairs of network nodes. It is a measure of the efficiency of information or mass transport on a network. TOC ConceptAverage… …   Wikipedia

  • Average Betty — Average Betty, is a short format, food entertainment web series written, produced, and performed by Sara O Donnell. The show debuted on iTunes in August 2006 and has since spread all over the Internet. The show s format is an innovative blend of… …   Wikipedia

  • Average treatment effects — (ATE) is an econometric measure of treatments used in from policy evaluation to medicine. General definition The expression treatment effect refers to the causal effect of a given treatment or policy (for example, the administering of a drug) on… …   Wikipedia

  • average earnings — UK US noun [plural] (also average income [C or U]) ECONOMICS, HR ► the average amount of money that workers earn in a particular industry, area, or economy during a particular period of time: »Labour market data showed a fall in annual average… …   Financial and business terms

  • Average — Av er*age, n. [OF. average, LL. averagium, prob. fr. OF. aver, F. avoir, property, horses, cattle, etc.; prop. infin., to have, from L. habere to have. Cf. F. av[ e]rage small cattle, and avarie (perh. of different origin) damage to ship or cargo …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Average and over — Average and over, often abbreviated A O, refers to two baseball statistics used in the 1850s and 1860s by the National Association of Base Ball Players. They referred to a player s average performance over a number of games, and were among the… …   Wikipedia

  • Average cost pricing — is one of the ways government regulate a monopoly market. Monopolists tend to produce less than the optimal quantity pushing the prices up. Government may use average cost pricing as a tool to regulate prices monopolists may charge.Average cost… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”