[f. prec. vb.]
1. The sum total to which anything mounts up or reaches: a. in quantity.
1710. Act 8 Anne, in Lond. Gaz., mmmmdcci/3. Shall forfeit double the Amount of the said Drawback.
1852. McCulloch, Taxation, II. i. 156. A greater amount of revenue.
1879. Wrightson, in Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 108/1. A smaller amount of straw as litter.
b. in number.
1801. Strutt, Sports & Past., III. vi. 221. A number of little birds, to the amount I believe of twelve or fourteen.
1849. Alison, Hist. Eur., VIII. liv. § 28. 489. Fame had magnified the amount of the forces.
1859. B. Smith, Arith. & Algebra, 4. The Sum or Amount of the several numbers so added.
c. spec. The sum of the principal and interest due upon a loan.
1796. Hutton, Math. Dict., I. 638/1. The sum of the Principal and Interest is called the Amount.
2. fig. The full value, effect, significance or import.
1728. Thomson, Winter, 210 (J.).
| Where now, ye lying Vanities of Life! | |
| Ye ever-tempting ever-cheating Train! | |
| Where are you now? and what is your Amount? |
1732. Pope, Ess. Man, IV. 307. The whole amount of that enormous fame.
1844. Lingard, Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858), II. App. 362. What the real amount of that statement may be.
1881. in Times, 24 Dec., 5/3 (American). The amount of it is that you have altogether too much to say in this case.
3. A quantity or sum viewed as a total.
1833. I. Taylor, Fanat., ii. 32. Each [appetite] must observe its due amount of force.
1876. Freeman, Norm. Conq., IV. xviii. 162. The amount of resistance which William met with.
1882. Daily Tel., 30 Jan. This year the National ought not to take a great amount of winning.
