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Nail (unit)
A nail, as a unit of cloth measurement, is generally a sixteenth of a yard or 2 inches (5.715 cm). The nail was apparently named after the practice of hammering brass nails into the counter at shops where cloth was sold. On the other hand, R D Connor, in ''The weights and measures of England'' (p 84) states that the nail was the 16th part of a Roman foot, i.e., digitus or finger, although he provides no reference to support this. Zupko's ''A dictionary of weights and measures for the British Isles'' (p 256) states that the nail was originally the distance from the thumbnail to the joint at the base of the thumb, or alternately, from the end of the middle finger to the second joint. An archaic usage of the term ''nail'' is as a sixteenth of a (long) hundredweight The hundredweight (abbreviation: cwt), formerly also known as the centum weight or quintal, is a British imperial and United States customary unit of weight or mass. Its value differs between the United States cu ...
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Yard
The yard (symbol: yd) is an English units, English unit of length in both the British imperial units, imperial and US United States customary units, customary systems of measurement equalling 3 foot (unit), feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international yard and pound, international agreement standardized as exactly 0.9144 Metre, meter. A distance of 1,760 yards is equal to 1 mile. The theoretical survey foot, US survey yard is very slightly longer. Name The term, ''yard'' derives from the Old English , etc., which was used for branches, staves and measuring rods. It is first attested in the late 7th century Ine of Wessex#Laws, laws of Ine of Wessex, wherein the "yard of land" mentioned is the virgate, yardland, an old English unit of tax assessment equal to  hide (unit), hide. Around the same time the Lindisfarne Gospels account of the messengers from John the Baptist in the Gospel of Matthew used it for a branch swayed by the wind. ...
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Ronald Edward Zupko
Ronald Edward Zupko (5 August, 1938 -- 8 November, 2021) was an authority on historical metrology (the study of the history of weights and measures) with an academic background in medieval history. He was known for his books on the history of weights and measures, and had written numerous dictionary and encyclopedia entries on historical measurement units. Born in Youngstown, Ohio, Zupko received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and taught at Marquette University from 1966 until retiring in 2002. Professor Zupko was a member of the Comité International pour la Métrologie Historique, Institute for Advanced Study (associate member), Mediaeval Academy of America, Economic History Association, National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Midwest Medieval Association, Pi Gamma Mu, and Phi Alpha Theta Phi Alpha Theta () is an American honor society for undergraduate and graduate students and professors of history. It was created in 1921 at the Univer ...
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Hundredweight
The hundredweight (abbreviation: cwt), formerly also known as the centum weight or quintal, is a British imperial and United States customary unit of weight or mass. Its value differs between the United States customary and British imperial systems. The two values are distinguished in American English as the short and long hundredweight and in British English as the cental and imperial hundredweight. * The short hundredweight or cental of is defined in the United States customary system. * The long or imperial hundredweight of 8  stone or is defined in the British imperial system. Under both conventions, there are 20 hundredweight in a ton, producing a " short ton" of 2,000 pounds (907.2 kg) and a " long ton" of 2,240 pounds (1,016 kg). History The hundredweight has had many values. In England in around 1300, different hundreds (''centum'' in Medieval Latin) were defined. The Weights and Measures Act 1835 formally established the present imperial hundr ...
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The Taming Of The Shrew
''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Christopher Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself. The nobleman then has the play performed for Sly's diversion. The main plot depicts the courtship of Petruchio and Katherina, the headstrong, obdurate shrew. Initially, Katherina is an unwilling participant in the relationship; however, Petruchio "tames" her with various psychological and physical torments, such as keeping her from eating and drinking, until she becomes a desirable, compliant, and obedient bride. The subplot features a competition between the suitors of Katherina's younger sister, Bianca, who is seen as the "ideal" woman. The question of whether the play is misogynistic has become the subject of considerable controversy. ''The Taming o ...
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William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of River Avon, Warwickshire, Avon" or simply "the Bard". His extant works, including William Shakespeare's collaborations, collaborations, consist of some Shakespeare's plays, 39 plays, Shakespeare's sonnets, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays List of translations of works by William Shakespeare, have been translated into every major modern language, living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted. Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18 ...
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Units Of Length
A unit of length refers to any arbitrarily chosen and accepted reference standard for measurement of length. The most common units in modern use are the metric system, metric units, used in every country globally. In the United States the U.S. customary units are also in use. British Imperial units are still used for some purposes in the United Kingdom and some other countries. The metric system is sub-divided into International System of Units, SI and non-SI units. History Metric system SI The SI base unit, base unit in the International System of Units (SI) is the meter, defined as "the length of the path travelled by speed of light, light in vacuum during a time interval of seconds." It is approximately equal to . Other SI units are derived from the meter by adding Metric prefix, prefixes, as in millimeter or kilometer, thus producing systematic decimal multiples and submultiples of the base unit that span many orders of magnitude. For example, a kilometer is . Non ...
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Units Of Area
Unit may refer to: General measurement * Unit of measurement, a definite magnitude of a physical quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law **International System of Units (SI), modern form of the metric system **English units, historical units of measurement used in England up to 1824 **Unit of length Science and technology Physical sciences * Natural unit, a physical unit of measurement * Geological unit or rock unit, a volume of identifiable rock or ice * Astronomical unit, a unit of length roughly between the Earth and the Sun Chemistry and medicine * Equivalent (chemistry), a unit of measurement used in chemistry and biology * Unit, a vessel or section of a chemical plant * Blood unit, a measurement in blood transfusion * Enzyme unit, a measurement of active enzyme in a sample * International unit, a unit of measurement for nutrients and drugs Mathematics * Unit number, the number 1 * Unit, identity element * Unit (ring theory), an element that is inverti ...
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