n. [ F., fr. L. talentum a talent (in sense 1), Gr. ta`lanton a balance, anything weighed, a definite weight, a talent; akin to tlh^nai to bear, endure, tolma^n, L. tolerare, tollere, to lift up, sustain, endure. See Thole, v. t., Tolerate. ] 1. Among the ancient Greeks, a weight and a denomination of money equal to 60 minae or 6, 000 drachmae. The Attic talent, as a weight, was about 57 lbs. avoirdupois; as a denomination of silver money, its value was £243 15s. sterling, or about $1, 180 (using 1900 values). [ 1913 Webster ]

Rowing vessel whose burden does not exceed five hundred talents. Jowett (Thucid.). [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Among the Hebrews, a weight and denomination of money. For silver it was equivalent to 3, 000 shekels, and in weight was equal to about 933/4 lbs. avoirdupois; as a denomination of silver, it has been variously estimated at from £340 to £396 sterling, or about $1, 645 to $1, 916 (ca. 1900). For gold it was equal to 10, 000 gold shekels. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Inclination; will; disposition; desire. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

They rather counseled you to your talent than to your profit. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Intellectual ability, natural or acquired; mental endowment or capacity; skill in accomplishing; a special gift, particularly in business, art, or the like; faculty; a use of the word probably originating in the Scripture parable of the talents (Matt. xxv. 14-30). [ 1913 Webster ]

He is chiefly to be considered in his three different talents, as a critic, a satirist, and a writer of odes. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

His talents, his accomplishments, his graceful manners, made him generally popular. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Ability; faculty; gift; endowment. See Genius. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Furnished with talents; possessing skill or talent; mentally gifted. Abp. Abbot (1663). [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This word has been strongly objected to by Coleridge and some other critics, but, as it would seem, upon not very good grounds, as the use of talent or talents to signify mental ability, although at first merely metaphorical, is now fully established, and talented, as a formative, is just as analogical and legitimate as gifted, bigoted, moneyed, landed, lilied, honeyed, and numerous other adjectives having a participal form, but derived directly from nouns and not from verbs. [ 1913 Webster ]