Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GROSS, n.

1. The main body; the chief art; the bulk; the mass; as, the gross of the people. [We now use bulk.] Addison.
2. The number of twelve dozen; twelve times twelve; as, a gross of bottles. It never has the plural form. We say, five gross or ten gross. In the gross, in gross, in the bulk, or the whole undivided; all parts taken together. By the gross, in a like sense. Gross weight, is the weight of merchandise or goods, with the dust and dross, the bag, cask, chest, &c., in which they are contained, for which an allowance is to be made of tare and tret. This being deducted, the remainder or real weight is denominated neat or net weight. Gross weight has lately been abolished in Connecticut by statute, May, 1827. In English law, a villain in gross, was one who did not belong to the land, but immediately to the person of the lord, and was transferrable by deed, like chattels, from one owner to another. Blackstone. Advowson in gross, an advowson separated from the property of a manor, and annexed to the person of its owner. Blackstone. Common in gross, is common annexed to a man's person, and not appurtenant to land. Blackstone.