amass

English

Etymology

From Middle English *amassen (found only as Middle English massen (“to amass”)), from Anglo-Norman amasser, from Medieval Latin amassāre, from ad + massa (“lump, mass”). See mass.

Pronunciation

Verb

amass (third-person singular simple present amasses, present participle amassing, simple past and past participle amassed)

  1. (transitive) To collect into a mass or heap
  2. (transitive) to gather a great quantity of; to accumulate.
    to amass a treasure or a fortune
    to amass words or phrases
    • 1887, Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet, Part II, Chapter V, page 123:
      […] he reluctantly returned to the old Nevada mines, there to recruit his health and to amass money enough to allow him to pursue his object without privation.

Synonyms

Translations

Noun

amass (plural amasses)

  1. (obsolete) A mass; a heap.
    • Thomas Pownall
      a general idea of an amass of arms
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir H. Wotton to this entry?)

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for amass in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Anagrams
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