any division of quantity accepted as a standard of measurement or exchange
<noun.quantity> the dollar is the United States unit of currency a unit of wheat is a bushel change per unit volume
an individual or group or structure or other entity regarded as a structural or functional constituent of a whole
<noun.linkdef> the reduced the number of units and installations the word is a basic linguistic unit
an organization regarded as part of a larger social group
<noun.group> the coach said the offensive unit did a good job after the battle the soldier had trouble rejoining his unit
a single undivided whole
<noun.cognition> an idea is not a unit that can be moved from one brain to another
a single undivided natural thing occurring in the composition of something else
<noun.object> units of nucleic acids
an assemblage of parts that is regarded as a single entity
<noun.tops> how big is that part compared to the whole? the team is a unit
Unit \U"nit\, n. [Abbrev. from unity.] 1. A single thing or person.
2. (Arith.) The least whole number; one.
Units are the integral parts of any large number. --I. Watts.
3. A gold coin of the reign of James I., of the value of twenty shillings. --Camden.
4. Any determinate amount or quantity (as of length, time, heat, value) adopted as a standard of measurement for other amounts or quantities of the same kind.
5. (Math.) A single thing, as a magnitude or number, regarded as an undivided whole.
{Abstract unit}, the unit of numeration; one taken in the abstract; the number represented by 1. The term is used in distinction from concrete, or determinate, unit, that is, a unit in which the kind of thing is expressed; a unit of measure or value; as 1 foot, 1 dollar, 1 pound, and the like.
{Complex unit} (Theory of Numbers), an imaginary number of the form a + broot{-1}, when a^{2} + b^{2} = 1.
{Duodecimal unit}, a unit in the scale of numbers increasing or decreasing by twelves.
{Fractional unit}, the unit of a fraction; the reciprocal of the denominator; thus, 1/4 is the unit of the fraction 3/4.
{Integral unit}, the unit of integral numbers, or 1.
{Physical unit}, a value or magnitude conventionally adopted as a unit or standard in physical measurements. The various physical units are usually based on given units of length, mass, and time, and on the density or other properties of some substance, for example, water. See {Dyne}, {Erg}, {Farad}, {Ohm}, {Poundal}, etc.
{Unit deme} (Biol.), a unit of the inferior order or orders of individuality.
{Unit jar} (Elec.), a small, insulated Leyden jar, placed between the electrical machine and a larger jar or battery, so as to announce, by its repeated discharges, the amount of electricity passed into the larger jar.
{Unit of heat} (Physics), a determinate quantity of heat adopted as a unit of measure; a thermal unit (see under {Thermal}). Water is the substance generally employed, the unit being one gram or one pound, and the temperature interval one degree of the Centigrade or Fahrenheit scale. When referred to the gram, it is called the gram degree. The British unit of heat, or thermal unit, used by engineers in England and in the United States, is the quantity of heat necessary to raise one pound of pure water at and near its temperature of greatest density (39.1[deg] Fahr.) through one degree of the Fahrenheit scale. --Rankine.
{Unit of illumination}, the light of a sperm candle burning 120 grains per hour. Standard gas, burning at the rate of five cubic feet per hour, must have an illuminating power equal to that of fourteen such candles.
{Unit of measure} (as of length, surface, volume, dry measure, liquid measure, money, weight, time, and the like), in general, a determinate quantity or magnitude of the kind designated, taken as a standard of comparison for others of the same kind, in assigning to them numerical values, as 1 foot, 1 yard, 1 mile, 1 square foot, 1 square yard, 1 cubic foot, 1 peck, 1 bushel, 1 gallon, 1 cent, 1 ounce, 1 pound, 1 hour, and the like; more specifically, the fundamental unit adopted in any system of weights, measures, or money, by which its several denominations are regulated, and which is itself defined by comparison with some known magnitude, either natural or empirical, as, in the United States, the dollar for money, the pound avoirdupois for weight, the yard for length, the gallon of 8.3389 pounds avoirdupois of water at 39.8[deg] Fahr. (about 231 cubic inches) for liquid measure, etc.; in Great Britain, the pound sterling, the pound troy, the yard, or 1/108719 part of the length of a second's pendulum at London, the gallon of 277.274 cubic inches, etc.; in the metric system, the meter, the liter, the gram, etc.
{Unit of power}. (Mach.) See {Horse power}.
{Unit of resistance}. (Elec.) See {Resistance}, n., 4, and {Ohm}.
{Unit of work} (Physics), the amount of work done by a unit force acting through a unit distance, or the amount required to lift a unit weight through a unit distance against gravitation. See {Erg}, {Foot Pound}, {Kilogrammeter}.
{Unit stress} (Mech. Physics), stress per unit of area; intensity of stress. It is expressed in ounces, pounds, tons, etc., per square inch, square foot, or square yard, etc., or in atmospheres, or inches of mercury or water, or the like.
Great Lakes Bancorp said it has formed a mortgage-banking unit to expand its residential mortgage-loan business into the northern suburbs of Detroit.
First Interstate is a unit of First Interstate Bancorp. in Los Angeles.
Another bank unit, Seafirst Corp., will have its Ba-1 senior debt reviewed, as will Seafirst National Bank's Baa-1 long-term deposits.
The credit agreement, the largest negotiated by the oil refiner and marketer, is mainly intended to meet the financing needs of Quaker State's Minit-Lube unit, a chain of fast-lubrication service outlets.
In the three months to June unit costs were just 0.1 per cent higher than in the same period last year, down from 1.3 per cent in the three months to May. Many analysts said they were pleased with the labour cost figures.
The unit had been hoping to boost employment for development of two new jetliners.
Bob Daly, chairman of Warner Bros. studio, a Time Warner Inc. unit, and the leader of the Hollywood negotiating team, said some progress is being made and asked for a deadline extension.
Ships carrying a Marine expeditionary unit from Okinawa, equipped with a squadron of assault and cargo helicopters, have arrived in position near the Saudi peninsula.
WPP's Lord Geller unit was hit by more resignations as the ad agency neared collapse.
Rite Aid recently expanded with the acquisition of stores from Kroger Co.'s SupeRx division and Sherwin-Williams's Gray Drug Fair unit for about $110 million.
Dr. John L. Zabriskie, senior vice president, will be president of the new unit in addition to his current corporate duties.
Transamerica Corp. said it agreed to acquire the insurance-premium financing unit of New York-based Alexander & Alexander Services Inc. for $73.8 million.
Prodded by the parent company to accelerate its growth, the unit aggressively expanded into real estate lending and junk bond financing in the 1980s and hoped the expansion would balance out the company's more cyclical businesses.
Dissident groups charged that a special police unit, the Joint Investigation Team, set up earlier this year to suppress violent anti-government groups, may have been involved in Lee's death.
The drop stemmed mainly from huge losses at the Douglas Aircraft unit, which primarily builds commercial jets.
The disk-drive maker said the new financing replaces a $35 million credit line with BankAmerica Corp.'s Bank of America unit and will be used for additional working capital.
Abbott Laboratories said a preliminary injunction enjoining it from selling several products at the center of a patent dispute with Eli Lilly & Co.'s Hybritech Inc. unit won't have a significant impact on future sales or earnings.
Hughes Aircraft Co., a unit of General Motors Corp., got a $29.4 million Army contract for the position-location reporting system.
The center, attached to the hospital's adolescent unit, began receiving patients in October.
Dominion Securities' wholly owned Dominion Securities Inc. unit is one of the last remaining major independent investment firms in Canada, following deregulation of the securities industry this summer.
The U.S. attorney for Minnesota said the indictment charges a former Sealed Air unit with illegally exporting 434 drums of an anti-corrosion chemical to Libya in April 1986, in violation of an executive order issued earlier that year.
He also will remain chairman of the Del Monte Corp. unit.
"The warning is pretty explicit," says Evelyn Albu, director of professional services for Schering Corp., the Schering-Plough Corp. unit that makes Afrin nasal spray.
Mr. Smith added that, despite respectable trading at the group's Rover auto unit, the car market "remains difficult," forcing production and labor cutbacks.
To calm those fears, Mr. Alberthal traveled to Washington to meet with executives of the unit's government systems group, where most of the eight executives who defected to Mr. Perot had worked.
NBC, a unit of General Electric, is expected to win smaller increases.
On Monday, the Bank of France boosted interest rates to defend the franc in the face of the German unit's strength.
The approval followed a three-day hearing last week during which Judge Barry Schermer considered the merits of competing offers by Horsham's AOC Acquisition Corp. unit and Getty Petroleum Corp., of Jericho, N.Y.
Tyco said the cables will be made by the unit for installation in 1989.
Affiliates of ABC, a unit of Capital Cities/ABC Inc., had the option of bailing out after a half-hour.