Pound-force
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A unit of force equal to the weight, on earth (subject to standard gravity), of a mass of one avoirdupois pound, equal to about 4.44822 newtons. Symbol lbf or lb_f.
"The slug is defined as the mass which would accelerate at a rate of 1 ft/s² under a force of one pound-force (lbf). Since 1 lbf is the force exerted on a mass of one pound by a standard gravitational field (of exactly 9.80665 meters per square second), a slug is thus exactly equal to 196133/6096 pounds (about 32.1740485564 lb or 14.593902937206 kg)."
Example
More examples"The slug is defined as the mass which would accelerate at a rate of 1 ft/s² under a force of one pound-force (lbf). Since 1 lbf is the force exerted on a mass of one pound by a standard gravitational field (of exactly 9.80665 meters per square second), a slug is thus exactly equal to 196133/6096 pounds (about 32.1740485564 lb or 14.593902937206 kg)."
Etymology
From pound + force, to differentiate from the unit of mass.
More for "pound-force"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.