mass

1. N-SING A mass of things is a large number of them grouped together. 一堆

On his desk is a mass of books and papers. 在他書桌上有大堆的書和文件。

2. N-SING A mass of something is a large amount of it. 許多

She had a mass of auburn hair. 她有一頭濃密的棕發。

3. QUANT Massesof something means a great deal of it. 大量[非正式]

There's masses of work for her to do. 她有一大堆的工作去做。

4. ADJ Mass is used to describe something which involves or affects a very large number of people. 人數衆多的[ADJ n]

...ideas on combating mass unemployment. …對付失業人數衆多的方法。

All the lights went off, and mass hysteria broke out. 所有的燈都熄滅了，大家變得歇斯底裡起來了。

5. N-COUNT A mass of a solid substance, a liquid, or a gas is an amount of it, especially a large amount which has no definite shape. 塊; 團; 堆

...before it cools and sets into a solid mass. …在它冷卻成爲一塊固躰之前。

6. N-PLURAL If you talk about the masses, you mean the ordinary people in society, in contrast to the leaders or the highly educated people. 普通百姓

His music is commercial. It is aimed at the masses. 他的音樂很商業化，針對的是一般大衆。

7. N-SING Themassof people are most of the people in a country, society, or group. 大多數

The 1939-45 world war involved the mass of the population. 1939至1945年間的世界大戰卷入了多數民衆。

8. V-T/V-I When people or things mass, or when you mass them, they gather together into a large crowd or group. 聚集

Shortly after the workers went on strike, police began to mass at the shipyard. 工人罷工後不久，警察開始在造船廠集結。

9. N-SING If you say that something is a mass of things, you mean that it is covered with them or full of them. 充滿

His body was a mass of sores. 他渾身傷痛。

10. N-VAR In physics, the mass of an object is the amount of physical matter that it has. 質量[技術]

Astronomers know that Pluto and Triton have nearly the same size, mass, and density. 天文學家們知道冥王星和海王衛一擁有幾乎相同的躰積、質量和密度。

11. N-VAR Mass is a Christian church ceremony, especially in a Roman Catholic or Orthodox church, during which people eat bread and drink wine in order to remember the last meal of Jesus Christ. 彌撒

She attended a convent school and went to Mass each day. 她上了一所女脩道院設立的學校，每天都去作彌撒。

12. →see also massed