aught

aught
(/0)
   a unit used by jewelers and craftspeople to measure the size of small beads (often called seed beads). The measurement scale is inverted: larger numbers of aughts correspond to smaller beads. Beads of size 11/0, a common size, average a little less than 2 millimeters in diameter, and other sizes are more-or-less inversely proportional. The measure may have originated as the number of beads that could comfortably be strung on one inch of cord; with present sizes a string of n beads of size n/0 occupies about 0.8 inch (20 mm). The word aught, meaning zero, is a fairly recent corruption of the old English word naught, meaning nothing; apparently the phrase a naught, meaning a zero, came to be misspelled as an aught.

Dictionary of units of measurement. 2015.

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  • Aught — Aught, n. [OE. aught, ought, awiht, AS. [=a]wiht, [=a] ever + wiht. [root]136. See {Aye} ever, and {Whit}, {Wight}.] Anything; any part. [Also written {ought}.] [1913 Webster] There failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord has spoken.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • aught — is an Old English word that survives only in the fixed expressions for aught I know and for aught I care, and as such is restricted to literary or archaic use …   Modern English usage

  • aught — [ôt] n. [ME < OE awiht < a, ever + wiht, a creature, WIGHT1] 1. anything whatever [for aught I know] [< a naught 2. (see NAUGHT), by faulty separation into an aught] a zero adv. Archaic to a …   English World dictionary

  • Aught — Aught, Aucht Aucht, n. [AS. ?ht, fr. [=a]gan to own, p. p. [=a]hte.] Property; possession. [Scot.] Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Aught — ([add]t), adv. At all; in any degree. Chaucer. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • aught — aught·lins; aught; …   English syllables

  • aught — [o:t US o:t, a:t] pron [: Old English; Origin: awiht, from a ever + wiht creature, thing ] old use anything …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • aught — (also ought) ► PRONOUN archaic ▪ anything at all. ORIGIN Old English …   English terms dictionary

  • aught — {{11}}aught (1) something, O.E. awiht aught, anything, something, lit. e er a whit, from P.Gmc. *aiwi ever (from PIE *aiw vital force, life, long life, eternity ) + *wihti thing, anything whatever (see WIGHT (Cf. wight)). In Shakespeare, Milton… …   Etymology dictionary

  • aught — aught1 /awt/, n. 1. anything whatever; any part: for aught I know. adv. 2. Archaic. in any degree; at all; in any respect. Also, ought. [bef. 1000; ME aught, ought, OE aht, awiht, owiht, equiv. to a, o ever + wiht thing, WIGHT1] aught …   Universalium

  • aught — I or ought II [[t]ɔt[/t]] n. 1) anything whatever; any part: for aught I know[/ex] 2) archaic in any degree; at all; in any respect • Etymology: bef. 1000; ME; OE āht, āwiht, ōwiht=ā, ō ever +wiht thing, wight I II aught or ought III [[t]ɔt[/t]]… …   From formal English to slang

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