Definition of "ton" []

• A unit of weight equal to 2,000 pounds (0.907 metric ton or 907.18 kilograms). Also called net ton, short ton. (noun)
• A unit of weight equal to 2,240 pounds (1.016 metric tons or 1,016.05 kilograms). Also called long ton. (noun)
• A metric ton. See Table at measurement. (noun)
• A unit of capacity for cargo in maritime shipping, normally estimated at 40 cubic feet. (noun)
• A unit of internal capacity of a ship equal to 100 cubic feet. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Although 2,000 pounds make 1 ton, it is well to note that 2,240 pounds make 1 _long ton_ (L.T.)."
• "The long ton is used by coal dealers in some localities, but the ton, sometimes called the _short ton_, is in more general use and is the one meant unless long ton is specified."
• "Woodbury Kane -- social leader, Fortune's favorite, aristocratic, refined, cultured, wealthy, _haut ton de haut ton_, and _sabreur sans peur et sans reproche_ -- how shall I paint him to you as I learned to know him in those dreadful, delightful seventeen days in which we lived only from instant to instant, and every man unconsciously bared his soul to his comrades because he could not help it?"