English

Alternative forms

• mand
• mande, mawn, mond (Scotland)

Noun

maund ‎(plural maunds)

1. A wicker basket.
2. A unit of capacity with various specific local values.
3. (regional) A handbasket with two lids.

Etymology 2

Anglicised pronunciation of a word in many southern and western Asian languages. The -d probably from assimilation with Etymology 1 above, or from comparison with pound.
Original root is unclear, but may be Arabic مَنّ ‎(mann), Persian من ‎(man) or Sanskrit मानः ‎(man). Sanskrit has a verb root मा ‎(ma-), "to measure".
Possibly cognate with Hebrew מנה ‎(maneh) and Ancient Greek μνᾶ ‎(mnâ, “mina”).

Alternative forms

• mun
• man

Noun

maund ‎(plural maunds)

1. (historical) A unit of weight in southern and western Asia, whose value varied widely by location. Two maunds made one chest of opium in East India. One maund equalled 136 pounds of opium in Turkey.
   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘In Flood Time’, In Black and White, Folio Society 2005, p. 410:

     Now the rail has come, and the fire-carriage says buz-buz-buz, and a hundred lakhs of maunds slide across that big bridge.

Usage notes

This spelling (maund) is usually used for the unit in British India, equal to 25 pounds avoirdupois at Madras, 28 pounds avoirdupois at Bombay and 10 troy pounds at Calcutta. For the equivalent unit in the Mughal Empire and in Persian- and Arabic-speaking countries, it is more usual to use the spelling mun or man (italicised to show that the word has not been assimilated into English).

Translations

Etymology 3

Unclear, but possibly from French mendier or quémander, "to beg". Compare Romani mang, "to beg".

Noun

maund ‎(uncountable)

1. (archaic) begging

Verb

maund ‎(third-person singular simple present maunds, present participle maunding, simple past and past participle maunded)

1. (archaic) to beg

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Beaumont and Fletcher to this entry?)

2. (obsolete) To mutter; to mumble or speak incoherently; to maunder.

Anagrams

• dunam
• undam