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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
tonnage
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ All the costs were met by the coal companies, who then paid royalties to the landowners on the tonnage produced.
▪ At its peak, the scheme involved some 35 vessels, of a total tonnage probably approaching 10 million.
▪ Business generally increased until the First World War when tonnages dropped away.
▪ Early tonnages of product are made under very tight supervision for data-gathering so that optimal requirements are quickly developed.
▪ Grangemouth was also developing rapidly although it was the early part of the present century before substantial tonnages were handled.
▪ Large tonnages of CO2 are also produced.
▪ Net tonnage of goods broke the four million tonne mark reaching 4,001,353 tonnes - a rise of over three percent.
▪ This unsportsmanlike style of hunting became lucrative as export tonnages increased.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Tonnage

Tonnage \Ton"nage\ (?; 48), n. [From Ton a measure.]

  1. The weight of goods carried in a boat or a ship.

  2. The cubical content or burden of a vessel, or vessels, in tons; or, the amount of weight which one or several vessels may carry. See Ton, n. (b) .

    A fleet . . . with an aggregate tonnage of 60,000 seemed sufficient to conquer the world.
    --Motley.

  3. A duty or impost on vessels, estimated per ton, or, a duty, toll, or rate payable on goods per ton transported on canals.

  4. The whole amount of shipping estimated by tons; as, the tonnage of the United States. See Ton. Note: There are in common use the following terms relating to tonnage:

    1. Displacement.

    2. Register tonnage, gross and net.

    3. Freight tonnage.

    4. Builders' measurement.

    5. Yacht measurement. The first is mainly used for war vessels, where the total weight is likely to be nearly constant. The second is the most important, being that used for commercial purposes. The third and fourth are different rules for ascertaining the actual burden-carrying power of a vessel, and the fifth is for the proper classification of pleasure craft. Gross tonnage expresses the total cubical interior of a vessel; net tonnage, the cubical space actually available for freight-carrying purposes. Rules for ascertaining these measurements are established by law.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
tonnage

early 15c., "tax or duty on wine imported in tuns," from ton (n.1) + -age, and from Old French tonnage "duty levied on wine in casks" (c.1300). Meaning "carrying capacity of a ship" is from 1718.

Wiktionary
tonnage

n. 1 The number of tons of water that a floating ship displaces. 2 The capacity of a ship's hold etc in units of 100 cubic feet. 3 The number of tons of bombs dropped in a particular region over a particular period of time. 4 A charge made on each ton of cargo when landed etc. 5 The total shipping of a fleet or nation.

WordNet
tonnage

n. a tax imposed on ships that enter the US; based on the tonnage of the ship [syn: tunnage, tonnage duty]

Wikipedia
Tonnage

Tonnage is a measure of the cargo-carrying capacity of a ship. The term derives from the taxation paid on tuns or casks of wine, and was later used in reference to the weight of a ship's cargo; however, in modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically refers to a calculation of the volume or cargo volume of a ship. Tonnage should not be confused with displacement, which refers to the actual weight of the vessel.

Measurement of tonnage can be complicated, not least because it is used to assess fees on commercial shipping.

Usage examples of "tonnage".

She had forged into the waters of Kure Bay, dragging her tonnage of chains and weights behind her, and she had come to rest, floating solidly, immovable under the urge of the wind, a vast cliff of steel towering above the workshops and cranes and other ships.

The whole of the centre of the broad deck, a portion of the Winkelried which, owing to the over-hanging gangways, possessed, in common with all the similar craft of the Leman, a greater width than is usual in vessels of the same tonnage elsewhere, was so cumbered with freight as barely to leave a passage to the crew, forward and aft, by stepping among the boxes and bales that were piled much higher than their own heads.

The main features of the planning were long, northerly outward and return routes over Denmark and the Baltic which would be well away from most of the German night-fighter bases but would also reduce the bomb tonnage carried by the raiding force, and raids by Oboe Mosquitoes on four of the most important night-fighter airfields in Holland, this support being provided for the first time.

Purely in the matter of thews, sinews and tonnage, I mean of course, for whereas Roderick Spode went about seeking whom he might devour and was a consistent menace to pedestrians and traffic, Stinker, though no doubt a fiend in human shape when assisting the Harlequins Rugby football club to dismember some rival troupe of athletes, was in private life a gentle soul with whom a child could have played.

My tonnage was quite insufficient to enable me to engage Spode in hand-to-hand conflict, and I toyed with the idea of striking him on the back of the head with a log of wood.

This queer little barkentine, of light tonnage but wonderful sailing qualities, is remembered in every port between Sitka and Callao.

The parliament, who had so good an opportunity of restraining these arbitrary taxes when they voted the tonnage and poundage, thought not proper to make any mention of them.

They were preparing a remonstranace against the levying of tonnage and poundage without consent of parliament.

They then openly asserted, that the levying of tonnage and poundage without consent of parliament, was a palpable violation of the ancient liberties of the people, and an open infringement of the petition of right, so lately granted.

The parliament did not grant the duty of tonnage and poundage to Henry VIII.

The following interval between the second and third parliament, was distinguished by so many exertions of prerogative, that men had little leisure to attend to the affair of tonnage and poundage, where the abuse of power in the crown might seem to be of a more disputable nature.

The inquiries and debates concerning tonnage and poundage went hand in hand with these theological or metaphysical controversies.

Sir John Elliot framed a remonstrance against levying tonnage and poundage without consent of parliament, and offered it to the clerk to read.

Those who levied tonnage and poundage were branded with the same epithet.

Tonnage and poundage continued to be levied by the royal authority alone.