pound-foot: see foot-pound.

pound, abbr. lb, unit of either mass or force in the customary system of English units of measurement. Two different pounds of mass are defined, one in the avoirdupois system of units and one in the Troy system. The avoirdupois pound (lb avdp) is now defined in terms of the kilogram, the metric unit of mass; 1 lb avdp is equal to 0.45359237 kg. The Troy pound is used only for the measurement of precious metals and is defined as 5760/7000 of the avoirdupois pound. The apothecaries' pound is identical to the Troy pound. As a unit of force, or weight, the pound is the weight that a mass of 1 lb avdp has when the acceleration of gravity has its standard value (9.80665 meters per second per second). In ordinary usage, the term pound is often used without specifying whether force or mass is meant, but for scientific purposes it is important to make this distinction.

foot-pound, abbr. ft-lb, unit of work or energy in the customary English gravitational system; it is the work done or energy expended by a force of 1 pound acting through a distance of 1 foot. It is equal to 1.356 joules. The term foot-pound is also used to designate a unit of torque that is sometimes called the pound-foot to distinguish it from the energy unit. A force of 1 pound applied 1 foot from and perpendicular to the direction to an axis of rotation produces a 1 foot-pound (or pound-foot) torque at the axis.

Pound, Roscoe, 1870-1964, American jurist, b. Lincoln, Nebr. He studied (1889-90) at Harvard law school, but never received a law degree. Pound was a prominent botanist as well as a jurist, and spent his early years in Nebraska practicing and teaching law, simultaneously serving as director of the state botanical survey (1892-1903). Pound was then professor of law at Harvard (1910-37) and dean of the law school (1916-36), where he introduced many reforms. He advanced the "theory of social interests" in law, asserting that law must recognize the needs of humanity, and take contemporary social conditions into account. Some theorists believe that his work may have inspired Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal program in the 1930s. A prolific writer, his books on jurisprudence include Introduction to the Philosophy of Law (1922, repr. 1959), Criminal Justice in America (1930, repr. 1975), Contemporary Juristic Theory (1940, repr. 1981), and Social Control through Law (1942).

Pound, Ezra Loomis, 1885-1972, American poet, critic, and translator, b. Hailey, Idaho, grad. Hamilton College, 1905, M.A. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1906. An extremely important influence in the shaping of 20th-century poetry, he was one of the most famous and controversial literary figures of the century—praised as a subtle and complex modern poet, dismissed as a naive egotist and pedant, condemned as a traitor and reactionary.

In 1907, Pound left the United States to travel in Europe, eventually settling in England. There he published a series of small books of poetry—including Personae (1909), Exultations (1909), Canzoni (1911), and Ripostes (1912)—which attracted attention for their originality and erudition. In England he came to dominate the avant-garde movements of the time—first leading the imagists and later championing vorticism. Both these movements sought to free post-Victorian verse from its staleness and conventionality. Pound encouraged many young writers, notably T. S. Eliot and James Joyce. In the early 1920s he moved to Paris, where he became associated with Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway.

By 1925 Pound was settled in Italy, where his literary ideas started to take a political and economic turn. Discouraged by the faults and failings of English and American democracy, he began to develop many of the theories that were to make him unpopular in Great Britain and the United States. During World War II he broadcast Fascist and anti-Semitic propaganda to the United States for the Italians and was indicted for treason. He was brought to the United States for trial and from 1946 to 1958 was confined to a hospital in Washington after being ruled mentally unfit to answer the charges. On his release he returned to Italy, where he remained until his death at the age of 87.

Pound's major works are Homage to Sextus Propertius (1918), Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920), and the Cantos (1925-60), a brilliant, though sometimes obscure, epic work. Weaving together such diversified threads as myth and legend (particularly the story of Odysseus), Chinese poetry, troubadour ballads, political and economic theory, and modern jargon, the Cantos attempt to reconstruct the history of civilization. Pound's translations, noted more for tone and feeling than for scholarly accuracy, include the Anglo-Saxon "Seafarer," poems from the Chinese, the Confucian books, Japanese No drama, Egyptian love poetry, and Sophocles' Women of Trachis.

Unit of weight in the avoirdupois system, the traditional European system of weight (incorporated into the British Imperial system and the U.S. system of weights and measures), equal to 16 oz, 7,000 grains, or 0.4536 kg. It is also a unit of weight in the troy and apothecaries' systems (two other traditional systems of weight), equal to 12 troy or apothecaries' oz, 5,760 grains, or 0.37 kg. Its Roman ancestor, the libra, is the source of the abbreviation lb. The troy pound is used for precious metals, the apothecaries' pound for drugs. The British monetary pound is linked historically with the minting of silver coins (sterlings). Large payments were reckoned in “pounds of sterlings,” later shortened to “pounds sterling.” Seealso gram; International System of Units; measurement; metric system; ounce.

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(born Oct. 27, 1870, Lincoln, Neb., U.S.—died July 1, 1964, Cambridge, Mass.) U.S. legal educator and botanist. After studying botany at the University of Nebraska and law at Harvard University (1889–90), he was admitted to the Nebraska bar, and he practiced law while also teaching at the state university (1890–1903). At the University of Nebraska he directed the state botanical survey (1892–1903) and discovered a rare fungus (Roscopoundia). He later taught at several law schools, most notably Harvard (1910–37), where he also served as dean (1916–36), instituting many reforms. He was perhaps the chief U.S. advocate of sociological jurisprudence, which holds that statutes and court decisions are affected by social conditions; his ideas apparently influenced the New Deal programs of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt. After World War II he helped reorganize the judicial system of Taiwan.

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(born Oct. 27, 1870, Lincoln, Neb., U.S.—died July 1, 1964, Cambridge, Mass.) U.S. legal educator and botanist. After studying botany at the University of Nebraska and law at Harvard University (1889–90), he was admitted to the Nebraska bar, and he practiced law while also teaching at the state university (1890–1903). At the University of Nebraska he directed the state botanical survey (1892–1903) and discovered a rare fungus (Roscopoundia). He later taught at several law schools, most notably Harvard (1910–37), where he also served as dean (1916–36), instituting many reforms. He was perhaps the chief U.S. advocate of sociological jurisprudence, which holds that statutes and court decisions are affected by social conditions; his ideas apparently influenced the New Deal programs of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt. After World War II he helped reorganize the judicial system of Taiwan.

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(born Oct. 30, 1885, Hailey, Idaho, U.S.—died Nov. 1, 1972, Venice, Italy) U.S. poet and critic. Pound attended Hamilton College and the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied various languages. In 1908 he sailed for Europe, where he would spend most of his life. He soon became a leader of Imagism and a dominant influence in Anglo-American verse, helping promote writers such as William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, Hilda Doolittle, Ernest Hemingway, Robert Frost, D.H. Lawrence, and T.S. Eliot, whose The Waste Land he brilliantly edited. After World War I he published two of his most important poems, “Homage to Sextus Propertius” (1919) and “Hugh Selwyn Mauberley” (1920). He also began publishing The Cantos, an attempt at an epic sequence of poems, which would remain his major poetic occupation throughout his life. With the onset of the Great Depression, he increasingly pursued his interest in history and economics, became obsessed with monetary reform, and declared his admiration for Benito Mussolini. In World War II he made pro-fascist radio broadcasts; detained by U.S. forces for treason in 1945, he was initially held at Pisa; The Pisan Cantos (1948, Bollingen Prize), written there, are notably moving. He was subsequently held in an American mental hospital until 1958, when he returned to Italy. The Cantos (1970) collects his 117 completed cantos.

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(born Oct. 30, 1885, Hailey, Idaho, U.S.—died Nov. 1, 1972, Venice, Italy) U.S. poet and critic. Pound attended Hamilton College and the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied various languages. In 1908 he sailed for Europe, where he would spend most of his life. He soon became a leader of Imagism and a dominant influence in Anglo-American verse, helping promote writers such as William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, Hilda Doolittle, Ernest Hemingway, Robert Frost, D.H. Lawrence, and T.S. Eliot, whose The Waste Land he brilliantly edited. After World War I he published two of his most important poems, “Homage to Sextus Propertius” (1919) and “Hugh Selwyn Mauberley” (1920). He also began publishing The Cantos, an attempt at an epic sequence of poems, which would remain his major poetic occupation throughout his life. With the onset of the Great Depression, he increasingly pursued his interest in history and economics, became obsessed with monetary reform, and declared his admiration for Benito Mussolini. In World War II he made pro-fascist radio broadcasts; detained by U.S. forces for treason in 1945, he was initially held at Pisa; The Pisan Cantos (1948, Bollingen Prize), written there, are notably moving. He was subsequently held in an American mental hospital until 1958, when he returned to Italy. The Cantos (1970) collects his 117 completed cantos.

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