Gross (?), a. [Compar.Grosser (�); superl.Grossest.] [F. gros, L. grossus, perh. fr. L. crassus thick, dense, fat, E. crass, cf. Skr. grathita tied together, wound up, hardened. Cf. Engross, Grocer, Grogram.] 1. Great; large; bulky; fat; of huge size; excessively large. “A gross fat man.” Shak.
A gross body of horse under the Duke. Milton.
2. Coarse; rough; not fine or delicate.
3. Not easily aroused or excited; not sensitive in perception or feeling; dull; witless.
Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear. Milton.
4. Expressing, or originating in, animal or sensual appetites; hence, coarse, vulgar, low, obscene, or impure.
The terms which are delicate in one age become gross in the next. Macaulay.
5. Thick; dense; not attenuated; as, a gross medium.
6. Great; palpable; serious; vagrant; shameful; as, a gross mistake; gross injustice; gross negligence.
7. Whole; entire; total; without deduction; as, the gross sum, or gross amount, the gross weight; — opposed to net.
Gross adventure(Law) the loan of money upon bottomry, i.e., on a mortgage of a ship. — Gross average(Law), that kind of average which falls upon the gross or entire amount of ship, cargo, and freight; — commonly called general average. Bouvier.Burrill. — Gross receipts, the total of the receipts, before they are diminished by any deduction, as for expenses; — distinguished from net profits. Abbott. — Gross weight the total weight of merchandise or goods, without deduction for tare, tret, or waste; — distinguished from neat, ornet, weight.