What is quantity

Quantity Quan"ti*ty, n.; pl. Quantities. [F. quantite, L.
quantitas, fr. quantus bow great, how much, akin to quam bow,
E. how, who. See Who.]
[1913 Webster]
1. The attribute of being so much, and not more or less; the
property of being measurable, or capable of increase and
decrease, multiplication and division; greatness; and more
concretely, that which answers the question "How much?";
measure in regard to bulk or amount; determinate or
comparative dimensions; measure; amount; bulk; extent;
size. Hence, in specific uses:
(a) (Logic) The extent or extension of a general
conception, that is, the number of species or
individuals to which it may be applied; also, its
content or comprehension, that is, the number of its
constituent qualities, attributes, or relations.
(b) (Gram.) The measure of a syllable; that which
determines the time in which it is pronounced; as, the
long or short quantity of a vowel or syllable.
(c) (Mus.) The relative duration of a tone.
[1913 Webster]

2. That which can be increased, diminished, or measured;
especially (Math.), anything to which mathematical
processes are applicable.
[1913 Webster]

Note: Quantity is discrete when it is applied to separate
objects, as in number; continuous, when the parts are
connected, either in succession, as in time, motion,
etc., or in extension, as by the dimensions of space,
viz., length, breadth, and thickness.
[1913 Webster]

3. A determinate or estimated amount; a sum or bulk; a
certain portion or part; sometimes, a considerable amount;
a large portion, bulk, or sum; as, a medicine taken in
quantities, that is, in large quantities.
[1913 Webster]

The quantity of extensive and curious information
which he had picked up during many months of
desultory, but not unprofitable, study. --Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]

Quantity of estate its time of continuance, or
degree of interest, as in fee, for life, or for years.
--Wharton (Law Dict. )

Quantity of matter, a body, its mass, as determined by
its weight, or by its momentum under a given velocity.

Quantity of motion in a body, the relative amount
of its motion, as measured by its momentum, varying as the
product of mass and velocity.

Known quantities quantities whose values are
given.

Unknown quantities quantities whose values are
sought.
[1913 Webster]

-- From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

quantity
n 1: how much there is of something that you can quantify [syn: measure,
amount]
2: an adequate or large amount; "he had a quantity of
ammunition"
3: something that has a magnitude and can be represented in
mathematical expressions by a constant or a variable

-- From WordNet (r) 2.0

300 Moby Thesaurus words for "quantity":
Alexandrine, a mass of, a world of, abundance, accent,
accentuation, accommodation, account, acres, affluence, aggregate,
amount, amphibrach, amphimacer, ample sufficiency, ampleness,
amplitude, anacrusis, anapest, antispast, armful, army, arsis,
avalanche, bacchius, bagful, bags, barometer, barrelful, barrels,
basketful, batch, beat, bevy, binful, block, bonanza, bottleful,
bountifulness, bountiousness, bowlful, box score, budget, bulk,
bumper crop, bunch, burden, bushel, cadence, caesura, canon,
capacity, capful, caseful, cast, catalexis, check, chloriamb,
chloriambus, chunk, clod, cloud, clump, clutch, clutter, colon,
content, copiousness, cordage, count, counterpoint, countlessness,
covey, cretic, criterion, dactyl, dactylic hexameter, deal, degree,
diaeresis, difference, dimeter, dipody, dochmiac, dose, elegiac,
elegiac couplet, elegiac pentameter, emphasis, epitrite, extent,
extravagance, exuberance, feminine caesura, fertility, flight,
flock, flocks, flood, flow, foison, foot, full measure, full vowel,
fullness, gauge, generosity, generousness, gob, gobs,
graduated scale, great abundance, great plenty, group, gush, hail,
handful, heap, heptameter, heptapody, heroic couplet, hexameter,
hexapody, hive, host, hunk, iamb, iambic, iambic pentameter, ictus,
ionic, jam, jillion, jingle, kettleful, landslide, lapful,
large amount, lavishness, legion, liberality, liberalness, lilt,
limit, load, loads, loaf, long vowel, lot, lots, lump, luxuriance,
many, masculine caesura, mass, masses of, maximum, measure, mess,
meter, metrical accent, metrical foot, metrical group,
metrical unit, metron, million, mob, model, molossus, mora,
more than enough, mountain, mouthful, movement, much, muchness,
multitude, myriad, myriads, nest, norm, nugget, number, numbers,
numerousness, ocean, oceans, oodles, opulence, opulency,
outpouring, overflow, pack, paeon, parameter, parcel, part, pat,
pattern, peck, pentameter, pentapody, period, plenitude,
plenteousness, plentifulness, plenty, plurality, portion, poundage,
prevalence, proceleusmatic, prodigality, product, productiveness,
profuseness, profusion, pyrrhic, quantities, quantum, quite a few,
ration, reading, readout, reckoning, reduced vowel, repleteness,
repletion, rhythm, rich harvest, rich vein, richness, riot,
riotousness, room, rout, ruck, rule, scads, scale, score, scores,
sea, shoal, short vowel, shower, small amount, space, spate,
spondee, sprung rhythm, standard, stowage, stream, stress,
substantiality, substantialness, sum, summation, superabundance,
superfluity, swarm, swing, syzygy, tale, tally, teemingness, test,
tetrameter, tetrapody, tetraseme, the bottom line, the story,
the whole story, thesis, thousand, throng, tidy sum, tonnage, tons,
total, touchstone, tribrach, trillion, trimeter, tripody, triseme,
trochee, type, value, volume, wad, wealth, weight, whole, world,
worlds, worlds of, x number, yardstick



-- From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

QUANTITY, pleading. That which is susceptible of measure.
2. It is a general rule that, when the declaration alleges an injury to
goods and chattels, or any contract relating to them, their quantity should
be stated. Gould on Pl. c. 4, Sec. 35. And in actions for the recovery of
real estate, the quantity of the land should be specified. Bract. 431, a; 11
Co. 25 b, 55 a; Doct. Pl. 85, 86; 1 East, R. 441; 8 East, R. 357; 13 East,
R. 102; Steph. Pl. 314, 315.



-- From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)