[L. lībra pound (12 ounces), balance, constellation so called. (In med.L. used for ‘pound’; hence the mod.Eng. abbreviations. £ = pound(s) sterling, lb. pound weight.)]
1. Antiq. A (Roman) pound.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. cxxx. (1495), 939. Twelue vnces makith Libra and is therfore acountyd a perfyghte weyghte.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), X. 25/1. The Roman libra was used in France for the proportions of their coin till the time of Charlemagne.
1875. Jevons, Money, ix. 89. Units of weight, such as the shekel, the talent, the as, the stater, the libra, the mark, the franc, the lira.
† 2. An arm of a balance. Obs.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), IX. 19/1. At the other end of the libræ, or levers.
3. Astron. (With initial capital.) a. One of the zodiacal constellations, lying between Scorpio and Virgo. b. The seventh sign of the zodiac (♎), which the sun enters on the 23rd of September.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., III. x. (1495), 312. The signe that hight Libra in mannes body rulyth the nether guttes of the wombe.
c. 1491. Chast. Goddes Chyld., 19. In certen tyme of the yere the sonne begynneth in a planete that men call libra.
1559. W. Cunningham, Cosmogr. Glasse, 35. Aries and Lybra.
1591. Nashe, Prognostication, Wks. (Grosart), II. 167. This autumnall reuolution … beginneth in Libra.
1616. T. Adams, Plain-dealing, 22. We liue under Libra, Iustice and Equitie … we feare not Taurus the Bull.
1667. Milton, P. L., III. 558. From Eastern Point Of Libra to the fleecie Starr that bears Andromeda farr off Atlantick Seas.
1708. Swift, Predict. for 1708, Wks. 1755, II. I. 150. The time that he enters Libra,… which is the busy period of the year.
1868. Lockyer, Elem. Astron., § 74. 29. The magnificent star-clusters, in the constellations … Libra and Aquarius.
