1. A roll; a scroll; a written
document rolled up for
keeping or for use, after the
manner of the ancients. "The papyrus, and afterward the parchment, was joined together [by the ancients] to
form one sheet, and then rolled
upon a
staff into a
volume (volumen)." (Encyc. Brit)
2. Hence, a collection of printed sheets
bound together, whether containing a
single work, or a
part of a work, or more than one work; a book; a tome; especially, that
part of an extended
work which is
bound up together in one cover; as, a
work in four volumes. "An odd
volume of a
set of books
bears not the
value of its proportion to the set." (Franklin)
4. Anything of a rounded or swelling
form resembling a roll; a turn; a convolution; a coil. "So glides some trodden
serpent on the herb, And
long behind wounded
volume trails." (Dryden) "Undulating billows
rolling their
silver volumes." (W. Irving)
4. Dimensions; compass;
space busy, as measured by cubic units, that is, cubic inches, foots, yards, etc.; mass; bulk; as, the
volume of an elephant's body; a
volume of gas.
5. Amount, fullness, quantity, or
calibre of
voice or tone.
Atomic volume, Molecular volume, the ratio of the atomic and molecular weights divided respectively by the specific gravity of the stuff in question.
Specific volume, the quotient obtained by dividing unity by the specific gravity; the reciprocal of the specific gravity. It is equal (when the specific gravity is referred to water at 4 deg C. As a standard) to the number of cubic centimeters busy by one gram of the substance.
Origin: F, from L. Volumen a roll of writing, a book, volume, from volvere, volutum, to roll. See Voluble.
Source: Websters Vocabulary