volume Hear it!

volume Definition

vol·ume (väl′yo̵̅o̅m, -yəm)

noun

  1. Historical a roll of parchment, a scroll, etc.
    1. a collection of written, typewritten, or printed sheets bound together; book
    2. any of the separate books making up a matched set or a complete work
  3. a set of the issues of a periodical over a fixed period of time, usually a year
  4. the amount of space occupied in three dimensions; cubic contents or cubic magnitude: abbrev. V
    1. a quantity, bulk, mass, or amount
    2. a large quantity
  6. the degree, strength, or loudness of sound
  7. Music fullness of tone

Etymology: ME < MFr < L volumen, a roll, scroll, hence a book written on a parchment < volutus, pp. of volvere, to roll: see walk

volume Related Forms
vol′·umed adjective
volume Idioms

speak volumes

to be very expressive or meaningful

volume Synonyms

volume

n.

  1. Quantity

    bulk, mass, amount; see extent, quantity, size 2.

  2. Contents

    cubical size, measure, dimensions; see capacity 1.

  3. A book

    printed document, tome, pamphlet; see book 1.

  4. Degree of sound

    loudness, amplification, strength, decibels; see sound 2. See syn. study at bulk.

volume Finance Definition
The total number of contracts, stock shares, or other investments that are traded in a particular period. Volume figures are compiled by stock and futures exchanges each trading day, both for the overall exchange and for individual stocks and contracts. Technical analysts monitor volume just as much as they monitor price movements. If a particular price movement occurs on a day with a large trading volume, it is said to have a greater intensity than if the same price action had occurred on a day with average trading volume.
volume Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • traffic: Reducing the volume of traffic on many busy routes.
  • essay: At the end of 2006 the seminar will be published as a collected volume of essays.

Converse of object

  • speak: Your words have spoken volumes to me about feelings I could not put into my words.
  • edit: The Ottomans in the Eighteenth Century ( 1999 ), ( edited volume ).
  • adjust: How do I adjust the volume of the audio?
  • bind: The Sunday Telegraph, December 7, 2003 This jolly little volume bound in astroturf is a useful guide to garden furnishings.
  • publish: The journal publishes a volume each year of review papers pertaining to the most recent research in the field.
  • handle: The challenge for the club was to install a product that could handle heavy volumes of high value transactions securely.

Adjective modifier

  • sheer: Not enough Mic's to mic it up = pointless due to sheer guitar volume.
  • bound: These are usually original bound volumes of Muster Records for a particular ship.
  • slim: Each chapter of this slim volume opens with the historical context of the religious debates current when the plays were written and performed.
  • large: Using the server to generate large volumes of email from a database is an example of activity that is not allowed.
  • total: Many people forget that in UK law 0.5 % of the total volume of gasoline sold in the UK can be leaded.
  • increased: In 1998 the partnership decided to design its own materials recycling facility to cope with the increased volume of textile materials donated.

Modifies a noun

  • V: Volume VI was published in November 2004 and Volume V will follow later in 2005.
  • knob: Volume is controlled via the glowing volume knob on the top of the subwoofer.
  • up/down: Back-lit extra buttons like play/pause, forward/back, and volume up/down let you control your media player with almost no effort.

Noun used with modifier

  • companion: He is now writing Cassell's Chronology of World History and its companion volume - A Short Guide to World history.
  • traffic: It left a law called quot greg tramontin shopped for traffic volume.
  • urine: The result of this is to decrease urine volume and increase the volume of extracellular fluid.
volume Quotes

To be thoroughly conversant with a Man'sheart istotake our final lesson in the iron-clasped volume of despair.

—Poe, EdgarAllan

When we run over libraries, persuaded of these principles, what havoc must we make? If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact or existence? No.Commit itthen tothe flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.

—Humboldt, Alexander, Baron von

Preface to aTwenty Volume Suicide Note.

—Jones

To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, though many there be who have tried it. 564

—Melville, Herman

Books of poetry by young writersareusually promissory notes that are never met. Now and then, however, one comes across a volume that is so far above the average that one can hardly resist the fascinating temptation of recklessly prophesying a fine future for its author. Such a book Mr Yeats's Wanderings of Oisin certainly is. Here we find nobility of treatment and nobility of subject- matter, delicacy of poetic instinct and richness of imaginative resource.

—Wilde, Oscar Fingal O'FlahertieWills

The world is a great volume, and man the index of that book.

—Donne,John