a. [ Compar. Grosser superl. Grossest. ] [ F. gros, L. grossus, perh. fr. L. crassus thick, dense, fat, E. crass, cf. Skr. grathita tied together, wound up, hardened. Cf. Engross, Grocer, Grogram. ] 1. Great; large; bulky; fat; of huge size; excessively large. “A gross fat man.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ] A gross body of horse under the Duke. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. Coarse; rough; not fine or delicate. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. Not easily aroused or excited; not sensitive in perception or feeling; dull; witless. [ 1913 Webster ] Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ] 4. Expressing, or originating in, animal or sensual appetites; hence, coarse, vulgar, low, obscene, or impure. [ 1913 Webster ] The terms which are delicate in one age become gross in the next. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ] 5. Hence: Disgusting; repulsive; highly offensive; as, a gross remark. [ PJC ] 6. Thick; dense; not attenuated; as, a gross medium. [ 1913 Webster ] 7. Great; palpable; serious; vagrant; shameful; as, a gross mistake; gross injustice; gross negligence. [ 1913 Webster ] 8. Whole; entire; total; without deduction; as, the gross sum, or gross amount, the gross weight; -- opposed to net. [ 1913 Webster ] Gross adventure (Law) the loan of money upon bottomry, i. e., on a mortgage of a ship. -- Gross average (Law), that kind of average which falls upon the gross or entire amount of ship, cargo, and freight; -- commonly called general average. Bouvier. Burrill. -- Gross receipts, the total of the receipts, before they are diminished by any deduction, as for expenses; -- distinguished from net profits. Abbott. -- Gross weight the total weight of merchandise or goods, without deduction for tare, tret, or waste; -- distinguished from neat weight, or net weight. [ 1913 Webster ]
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