pound [OE] This goes back to Latin libra pondo, a Roman weight equivalent to 12 ounces—libra meant ‘scales, balance’ and pondo was ‘by weight’. Libra gives the ‘L’ in the old £sd, for ‘pound, shillings, and pence’ (the d. for denarius, the Latin word for an ancient Roman silver coin). The money sense, also Old English, arose because the first pound was literally a pound of silver. Pound meaning ‘to beat, strike heavily’ is a different Old English word, as is pound in the sense ‘an enclosure’. In Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice the moneylender Shylock lends the merchant Antonio money on condition that if he fails to repay it on time he must forfeit a pound of his flesh. When Antonio is unable to pay, Shylock insists on holding him to the agreement, but is foiled by the clever pleading of Portia, who argues that if the flesh is taken it must be done without spilling any blood in the process, as the deed specifies flesh only. Hence to demand your pound of flesh.