mass

Meaning

1. Matter, material.
2. (obsolete) Matter, material.
3. Matter, material.
4. Matter, material.
5. Matter, material.
6. Matter, material.
7. A large quantity; a sum.
8. A large quantity; a sum.
9. A large quantity; a sum.
10. A large quantity; a sum.
11. A large quantity; a sum.

heap

crowd

good deal

tidy sum

fly around

large amount

main part

quite a little

the great unwashed

solid body

unwieldy

great many

great number

heaps of

large number

be crowded

be jammed

measurement

religion

be crammed

cluster together

fixed shape

large group

for the masses

quantity collection

mass energy

qualitative properties

a whole lot

stellar group

communion service

group lump

tons of

choral service

common people

large quantity

mass of people

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/mæs/

In late Middle English (circa 1400) as masse in the sense of "lump, quantity of matter", from Anglo-Norman masse, in Old French attested from the 11th century, via late Latin massa (“lump, dough”), from Ancient Greek μᾶζα (mâza, “barley-cake, lump (of dough)”). The Greek noun may be derived from the verb μάσσω (mássō, “to knead”), ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European *maǵ- (“to oil, knead”), although this is uncertain. Doublet of masa. The sense of "a large number or quantity" arises circa 1580. The scientific sense is from 1687 (as Latin massa) in the works of Isaac Newton, with the first English use (as mass) occurring in 1704.