Vol"ume (?), n. [F., from L.
volumen a roll of writing, a
book, volume, from volvere, volutum, to roll. See
Voluble.]
1. A roll; a scroll; a written document rolled up for keeping or for use, after the manner of the
ancients. [Obs.]
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 grass,
And long behind wounded volume
trails.
Dryden. Undulating billows rolling their silver volumes.
W. Irving. 4. Dimensions;
compass; space occupied, as measured by cubic units, that is, cubic inches, feet, yards, etc.;
mass; bulk; as, the volume of an elephant's
body; a volume of gas.
5. (Mus.) Amount, fullness, quantity, or caliber of
voice or tone.
Atomic volume, Molecular volume (Chem.), the ratio of
the atomic and molecular weights divided respectively by the specific gravity of the substance in question. -- Specific volume (Physics & Chem.), 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° C. as a standard) to the number of
cubic centimeters occupied by one gram of the substance.
Hear it pronounced