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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

AV'ERAGE, n.
1. In commerce, a contribution to a general loss. When for the safety of a ship in distress, any destruction of property is incurred, either by cutting away the masts, throwing goods overboard, or other means, all persons who have goods on board, or property in the ship, contribute to the loss according to their average, that is, the goods of each on board. This principle, introduced into the commerce of Europe, from the Rhodian laws, and recognized by the regulations of Wisby, is now an established rule in the maritime laws of Europe; for it is most reasonable, that when one man's property is sacrificed to save a ship, all persons whose property is saved, or in like hazard, should bear their proportion of the loss.
2. From the practice of contributing to bear losses, in proportion to each man's property, this word has obtained the present popular sense, which is, that of a mean proportion, medial sum or quantity, made out of unequal sums or quantities. Thus, if A loses 5 dollars, B 9 and C 16, the sum is 30, and the average, 10.
3. A small duty payable by the shippers of goods, to the master of the ship, over and above the freight, for his care of the goods.
Hence the expression in bills of lading, "paying so much freight with primage and average accustomed."
4. In England, the breaking up of cornfields, eddish or roughings.
Upon, or on an average, is taking the mean of unequal numbers or quantities.
AV'ERAGE, a. Medial; containing a mean proportion.
AV'ERAGE, v.t. To find the mean of unequal sums or quantities; to reduce to a medium; to divide among a number, according to a given proportion; as, to average a loss.
AV'ERAGE, v.i. To form a mean or medial sum or quantity; as, the losses of the owners will average 25 dollars each.
These spars average 10 feet in length.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: approximating the statistical norm or average or expected value; "the average income in New England is below that of the nation"; "of average height for his age"; "the mean annual rainfall" [syn: average, mean]
2: lacking special distinction, rank, or status; commonly encountered; "average people"; "the ordinary (or common) man in the street" [syn: average, ordinary]
3: lacking exceptional quality or ability; "a novel of average merit"; "only a fair performance of the sonata"; "in fair health"; "the caliber of the students has gone from mediocre to above average"; "the performance was middling at best" [syn: average, fair, mediocre, middling]
4: around the middle of a scale of evaluation; "an orange of average size"; "intermediate capacity"; "medium bombers" [syn: average, intermediate, medium]
5: relating to or constituting the most frequent value in a distribution; "the modal age at which American novelists reach their peak is 30" [syn: modal, average]
6: relating to or constituting the middle value of an ordered set of values (or the average of the middle two in a set with an even number of values); "the median value of 17, 20, and 36 is 20"; "the median income for the year was $15,000" [syn: median, average] n
1: a statistic describing the location of a distribution; "it set the norm for American homes" [syn: average, norm]
2: (sports) the ratio of successful performances to opportunities
3: an intermediate scale value regarded as normal or usual; "he is about average in height"; "the snowfall this month is below average" v
1: amount to or come to an average, without loss or gain; "The number of hours I work per work averages out to 40" [syn: average, average out]
2: achieve or reach on average; "He averaged a C"
3: compute the average of [syn: average, average out]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: from earlier average proportionally distributed charge for damage at sea, modification of Middle French avarie damage to ship or cargo, from Old Italian avaria, from Arabic ‘aw?r?ya damaged merchandise Date: 1732 1. a. a single value (as a mean, mode, or median) that summarizes or represents the general significance of a set of unequal values b. mean 1b 2. a. an estimation of or approximation to an arithmetic mean b. a level (as of intelligence) typical of a group, class, or series <above the average> 3. a ratio expressing the average performance especially of an athletic team or an athlete computed according to the number of opportunities for successful performance Synonyms: average, mean, median, norm mean something that represents a middle point. average is exactly or approximately the quotient obtained by dividing the sum total of a set of figures by the number of figures <scored an average of 85 on tests>. mean may be the simple average or it may represent value midway between two extremes <a high of 70° and a low of 50° give a mean of 60°>. median applies to the value that represents the point at which there are as many instances above as there are below <average of a group of persons earning 3, 4, 5, 8, and 10 dollars an hour is 6 dollars, whereas the median is 5 dollars>. norm means the computed or estimated average of performance of a significantly large group, class, or grade <scores about the norm for fifth grade arithmetic>. II. adjective Date: 1770 1. equaling an arithmetic mean 2. a. being about midway between extremes <a man of average height> b. not out of the ordinary ; common <the average person> • averagely adverb • averageness noun III. verb (averaged; averaging) Date: 1769 intransitive verb 1. a. to be or come to an average <the gain averaged out to 20 percent> b. to have a medial value of <a color averaging a pale purple> 2. to buy on a falling market or sell on a rising market additional shares or commodities so as to obtain a more favorable average price — usually used with down or up transitive verb 1. to do, get, or have on the average or as an average sum or quantity <averages 12 hours of work a day> 2. to find the arithmetic mean of (a series of unequal quantities) 3. a. to bring toward the average b. to divide among a number proportionately

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n., adj., & v. --n. 1 a the usual amount, extent, or rate. b the ordinary standard. 2 an amount obtained by dividing the total of given amounts by the number of amounts in the set. 3 Law the distribution of loss resulting from damage to a ship or cargo. --adj. 1 usual, ordinary. 2 estimated or calculated by average. --v.tr. 1 amount on average to (the sale of the product averaged one hundred a day). 2 do on average (averages six hours' work a day). 3 a estimate the average of. b estimate the general standard of. Phrases and idioms: average adjustment Law the apportionment of average. average out result in an average. average out at result in an average of. batting average 1 Cricket a batsman's runs scored per completed innings. 2 Baseball a batter's safe hits per time at bat. bowling average Cricket a bowler's conceded runs per wicket taken. law of averages the principle that if one of two extremes occurs the other will also tend to so as to maintain the normal average. on (or on an) average as an average rate or estimate. Derivatives: averagely adv. Etymology: F avarie damage to ship or cargo (see sense 3), f. It. avaria f. Arab. ' awariya damaged goods f. ' awar damage at sea, loss: -age after damage

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Average Av"er*age, n. [OF. average, LL. averagium, prob. fr. OF. aver, F. avoir, property, horses, cattle, etc.; prop. infin., to have, from L. habere to have. Cf. F. av['e]rage small cattle, and avarie (perh. of different origin) damage to ship or cargo, port dues. The first meaning was perh. the service of carting a feudal lord's wheat, then charge for carriage, the contribution towards loss of things carried, in proportion to the amount of each person's property. Cf. Aver, n., Avercorn, Averpenny.] 1. (OLd Eng. Law) That service which a tenant owed his lord, to be done by the work beasts of the tenant, as the carriage of wheat, turf, etc. 2. [Cf. F. avarie damage to ship or cargo.] (Com.) (a) A tariff or duty on goods, etc. [Obs.] (b) Any charge in addition to the regular charge for freight of goods shipped. (c) A contribution to a loss or charge which has been imposed upon one of several for the general benefit; damage done by sea perils. (d) The equitable and proportionate distribution of loss or expense among all interested. General average, a contribution made, by all parties concerned in a sea adventure, toward a loss occasioned by the voluntary sacrifice of the property of some of the parties in interest for the benefit of all. It is called general average, because it falls upon the gross amount of ship, cargo, and freight at risk and saved by the sacrifice. --Kent. Particular average signifies the damage or partial loss happening to the ship, or cargo, or freight, in consequence of some fortuitous or unavoidable accident; and it is borne by the individual owners of the articles damaged, or by their insurers. Petty averages are sundry small charges, which occur regularly, and are necessarily defrayed by the master in the usual course of a voyage; such as port charges, common pilotage, and the like, which formerly were, and in some cases still are, borne partly by the ship and partly by the cargo. In the clause commonly found in bills of lading, ``primage and average accustomed,'' average means a kind of composition established by usage for such charges, which were formerly assessed by way of average. --Arnould. --Abbott. --Phillips. 3. A mean proportion, medial sum or quantity, made out of unequal sums or quantities; an arithmetical mean. Thus, if A loses 5 dollars, B 9, and C 16, the sum is 30, and the average 10. 4. Any medial estimate or general statement derived from a comparison of diverse specific cases; a medium or usual size, quantity, quality, rate, etc. ``The average of sensations.'' --Paley. 5. pl. In the English corn trade, the medial price of the several kinds of grain in the principal corn markets. On an average, taking the mean of unequal numbers or quantities.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Average Av"er*age, a. 1. Pertaining to an average or mean; medial; containing a mean proportion; of a mean size, quality, ability, etc.; ordinary; usual; as, an average rate of profit; an average amount of rain; the average Englishman; beings of the average stamp. 2. According to the laws of averages; as, the loss must be made good by average contribution.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Average Av"er*age, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Averaged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Averaging.] 1. To find the mean of, when sums or quantities are unequal; to reduce to a mean. 2. To divide among a number, according to a given proportion; as, to average a loss. 3. To do, accomplish, get, etc., on an average.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Average Av"er*age, v. i. To form, or exist in, a mean or medial sum or quantity; to amount to, or to be, on an average; as, the losses of the owners will average twenty five dollars each; these spars average ten feet in length.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(averages, averaging, averaged) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. An average is the result that you get when you add two or more numbers together and divide the total by the number of numbers you added together. Take the average of those ratios and multiply by a hundred. = mean N-COUNT • Average is also an adjective. The average price of goods rose by just 2.2%... = mean ADJ: ADJ n 2. You use average to refer to a number or size that varies but is always approximately the same. It takes an average of ten weeks for a house sale to be completed. N-SING: a N of amount 3. An average person or thing is typical or normal. The average adult man burns 1,500 to 2,000 calories per day... ADJ: ADJ n 4. An amount or quality that is the average is the normal amount or quality for a particular group of things or people. Most areas suffered more rain than usual, with Northern Ireland getting double the average for the month. = norm N-SING: the N • Average is also an adjective. £2.20 for a beer is average. ...a woman of average height. ADJ 5. Something that is average is neither very good nor very bad, usually when you had hoped it would be better. I was only average academically. ADJ 6. To average a particular amount means to do, get, or produce that amount as an average over a period of time. We averaged 42 miles per hour. VERB: V n 7. You say on average or on an average to indicate that a number is the average of several numbers. American shares rose, on average, by 38%... PHRASE: PHR with cl 8. If you say that something is true on average, you mean that it is generally true. On average, American firms remain the most productive in the world. PHRASE: PHR with cl 9. law of averages: see law

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Medium, mean proportion, medial sum or quantity. 2. Mediocrity, medium grade, mean standard. II. v. a. 1. Equate, reduce to an average, reduce to a mean. 2. (Com.) Proportion, distribute proportionally. III. v. n. Amount to, or result in (when the mean is taken). IV. a. 1. Medial, medium, mean. 2. Middling, ordinary, passable, moderate, tolerable, well enough, pretty well, not bad.

Moby Thesaurus

Everyman, Public, accustomed, amidships, as a rule, average man, average out, avoid extremes, balance, banal, besetting, bisect, bourgeois, center, central, common, common man, common run, commonplace, conventional, core, current, customarily, customary, dominant, double, epidemic, equatorial, equidistant, everyday, everyman, everywoman, fair, fairish, familiar, fold, garden, garden-variety, general, generality, generally, girl next door, golden mean, habitual, halfway, happy medium, homme moyen sensuel, household, in the main, indifferent, interior, intermediary, intermediate, juste-milieu, mean, medial, median, mediocre, mediocrity, mediterranean, medium, mesial, mezzo, mid, middle, middle course, middle ground, middle point, middle position, middle state, middle-class, middle-of-the-road, middlemost, middling, midland, midmost, midpoint, midships, midway, moderate, no great shakes, norm, normal, normally, normative, nuclear, ordinarily, ordinary, ordinary Joe, ordinary run, pair off, pandemic, par, plastic, popular, predominant, predominating, prescriptive, prevailing, prevalent, rampant, regnant, regular, regulation, reigning, rife, routine, ruck, rule, ruling, run, run-of-mine, run-of-the-mill, running, so so, so-so, split the difference, standard, stereotyped, stock, strike a balance, suburban, take the average, typical, typically, undistinguished, unexceptional, universal, unnoteworthy, unremarkable, unspectacular, usual, usually, vernacular, via media, wonted