Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A unit of weight formerly used in Spanish-speaking countries, equal to about 11.3 kilograms (25 pounds).
- n. A unit of weight formerly used in Portuguese-speaking countries, equal to about 14.4 kilograms (32 pounds).
- n. A liquid measure formerly used in Spanish-speaking countries, having varying value but equal to about 16.2 liters (17 quarts) when used to measure wine.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A Spanish and Portuguese unit of weight. The following table shows the number of avoirdupois and local pounds it contains and its equivalent in kilograms:
Places. Local Pounds. Av. Pounds. Kilos. Saragossa 36 27.390 12.424 Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro 32 32.381 14.688 Barcelona 26 22.985 10.426 Valencia 36 28.272 12.824 Paraguay 25 27.410 12.433 Castile, Buenos Ayres, Chili, Mexico, etc. 25 25.317 11.484 Alicante 24 and 36 28.254 12.816 - n. A measure for wine, spirits, and oil in Spanish countries, arising from the Moorish practice of weighing those liquids; the cantara. There are two measures of this name. The commoner, the arroba mayor, contains in liters: in Castile, Cadiz, 16.137; in Bolivia, 16.073; in Malaga, 15.85; in Havana, 15.44; in Alicante, 11.550; in Valencia, 11.482. The arroba menor, in Madrid, is equivalent to 27.25 pounds of water or 12.564 liters: it was divided into 25 libras. Wine was sold by a weight of 32 pounds to the arroba.
Wiktionary
- n. An old Spanish weight used in Mexico and South America, approximately 25.36 pounds avoirdupois.
- n. An old Portuguese weight used in Brazil, approximately 32.38 pounds avoirdupois.
- n. An old Spanish liquid measure, approximately 3.54 imperial gallons (for wine) or 2.78 imperial gallons (for oil).
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A Spanish weight used in Mexico and South America = 25.36 lbs. avoir.; also, an old Portuguese weight, used in Brazil = 32.38 lbs. avoir.
- n. A Spanish liquid measure for wine = 3.54 imp. gallons, and for oil = 2.78 imp. gallons.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a liquid measure (with different values) used in some Spanish speaking countries
- n. a unit of weight used in some Spanish speaking countries
Etymologies
- Spanish, from Arabic, meaning "a quarter, a fourth part". (Wiktionary)
- Spanish and Portuguese, both from Arabic ar-rub', the quarter (of a quintal) : al-, the + rub', quarter; see rbʿ in Semitic roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“But the Indians have no scales, and accordingly for them the arroba was a thing of bulk and not of weight.”
Head Hunters of the Amazon: Seven Years of Exploration and Adventure
“The arroba is a Spanish weight originally, to which no fixed standard can be assigned.”
Head Hunters of the Amazon: Seven Years of Exploration and Adventure
“Just so you know in advance, the "@" symbol is called an "arroba", and it's made by keying ALT 6-4.”
“The Indians of America carry all their products, such as maize, sugar, coffee, etc., in bags made of this leaf, which they know how to arrange so well, that they transport an "arroba," or twenty-five pounds any distance without a single grain escaping, and without any appliance other than a liana or creeper to tie it up with.”
“I have always heard Mexicans call the @ the arroba.”
“The first time I heard it called arroba was 1994 when I was doing research in TN.”
“I have gotten used to calling it the arroba though.”
“Português (Nativo), Inglês, Francês ricardofdiogo at gmail dot com ricardofdiogo arroba gmail ponto com”
“You can see that an arroba of cane a day can be given to 900,000 animals with 3,000 caballerias of cane.”
“Some 3,000 men can take care of that arroba for 900,000 animals.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘arroba’.
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Not 250 Spelling Words Again
Yet more spelling words for intermediate to advanced spellers.
kyoodle, heimin, feis, menarche, cordwainer, gherao, zythum, accidie, anastomosis, boustrophedon, oleum, penicillin and 238 more...
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@
names for @
aperstaart, atmark, chiocciola, snabel-a, kanelbulle, strudel, eine klammeraffe, arroba, arobase, a bildua, kuyruklu a, zavin� and 40 more...
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The Aubrey/Maturin List I'm Gonna Mak...
I'm wading through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels one by one, and someday, I'll wade through them again and list all the words I learned while reading them.
Edit: I started ma...studdingsail, carronade, mumchance, grumlin-futtocks, crosscat-harpings, holystone, sennit, orlop, orchitis, negus, kevel, altumal and 1112 more...
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The Measure of Man
Unusual, arcane, or obscure units of measure
cable, cabot, bushel, cade, caliper, callipic cycle, metonic cycle, cunit, air watt, ale gallon, allergy unit, amber and 228 more...
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lotic words of flow
fast flowing, rapid, confluent words
boustrophedon, boustrophedric, thixotrophic, ludic, hesychastic, blend, quaquaversal, phacoemulsification, mordant, glissando, vatic, tournure and 233 more...
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new acquisitions
found in the wild (i.e., not on Wordie!)
samara, indehiscent, paschal, rogation, wen, rete, diriment, epicene, duramen, euhemerism, objurgate, canaille and 429 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for arroba.
chained_bear "'Then please be so good as to order me an arroba of the best upland Peruvian small-leaf. Here are five guineas as earnest-money.'"
--P. O'Brian, The Commodore, 205 Mar 17, 2008
reesetee Ha! Ape tail? I like it! Nov 7, 2007
sionnach It is, of course, also the Spanish word for the at sign, or ape tail, @.
Also, quarter of a quintal, one twentieth of a tonelada. Nov 7, 2007
reesetee A Spanish measure used for wine or oil. An arroba of wine is equivalent to a little more than 25 pounds of grapes (about one basketful), which yields about 4.25 gallons (about 16 liters) of wine. An arroba of oil equals about 3.3 gallons (12.56 liters). Nov 6, 2007