GROSS, a. [L. crassus.]

1. Thick; bulky; particularly applied to animals; fat; corpulent; as, a gross man; a gross body.
2. Coarse; rude; rough; not delicate; as, gross sculpture. Wotton.
3. Coarse, in a figurative sense; rough; mean; particularly, vulgar; obscene; indelicate; as, gross language; gross jests. Thick; large; opposed to fine; as, wood or stone of a gross grain.
4. Impure; unrefined; as, gross sensuality.
5. Great; palpable; as, a gross mistake; gross injustice.
6. Coarse; large; not delicate; as, gross features.
7. Thick; dense; not attenuated; not refined or pure; as, a gross medium of sight; gross air; gross elements. Bacon. Pope.
8. Unseemly; enormous; shameful; great; as, gross corruptions; gross vices.
9. Stupid; dull. Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear. Milton.
10. Whole; entire; as, the gross sum, or gross amount, as opposed to a sum consisting of separate or specified parts.

1. The main body; the chief art; the bulk; the mass; as, the gross of the people. [We now use bulk.] Addison.
2. The number of twelve dozen; twelve times twelve; as, a gross of bottles. It never has the plural form. We say, five gross or ten gross. In the gross, in gross, in the bulk, or the whole undivided; all parts taken together. By the gross, in a like sense. Gross weight, is the weight of merchandise or goods, with the dust and dross, the bag, cask, chest, &c., in which they are contained, for which an allowance is to be made of tare and tret. This being deducted, the remainder or real weight is denominated neat or net weight. Gross weight has lately been abolished in Connecticut by statute, May, 1827. In English law, a villain in gross, was one who did not belong to the land, but immediately to the person of the lord, and was transferrable by deed, like chattels, from one owner to another. Blackstone. Advowson in gross, an advowson separated from the property of a manor, and annexed to the person of its owner. Blackstone. Common in gross, is common annexed to a man's person, and not appurtenant to land. Blackstone.

1. Great; large; bulky; fat; of huge size; excessively large.
   
   
   "A gross fat man." Shak.

   A gross body of horse under the Duke. Milton.

2. The main body; the chief part, bulk, or mass.
   
   
   "The gross of the enemy." Addison.

   For the gross of the people, they are considered as a mere herd of cattle. Burke.

3. Coarse; rough; not fine or delicate.
4. The number of twelve dozen] twelve times twelve; as, a gross of bottles; ten gross of pens.
   
   

   Advowson in gross (Law), an advowson belonging to a person, and not to a manor. -- A great gross, twelve gross; one hundred and forty-four dozen. -- By the gross, by the quantity; at wholesale. -- Common in gross. (Law) See under Common, n. -- In the gross, In gross, in the bulk, or the undivided whole; all parts taken together.

5. Not easily aroused or excited; not sensitive in perception or feeling; dull; witless.
   
   

   Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear. Milton.

6. Expressing, or originating in, animal or sensual appetites; hence, coarse, vulgar, low, obscene, or impure.
   
   

   The terms which are delicate in one age become gross in the next. Macaulay.

7. Thick; dense; not attenuated; as, a gross medium.
8. Great; palpable; serious; vagrant; shameful; as, a gross mistake; gross injustice; gross negligence.
9. Whole; entire; total; without deduction; as, the gross sum, or gross amount, the gross weight; -- opposed to net.
   
   

   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, or net, weight.