What is "unit"

Unit \U"nit\, n. [Abbrev. from unity.]

1. A single thing or person.

2. (Arith.) The least whole number; one.

   Units are the integral parts of any large number.
   --I. Watts.

3. A gold coin of the reign of James I., of the value of twenty shillings.
   --Camden.

4. Any determinate amount or quantity (as of length, time, heat, value) adopted as a standard of measurement for other amounts or quantities of the same kind.

5. (Math.) A single thing, as a magnitude or number, regarded as an undivided whole.

   Abstract unit, the unit of numeration; one taken in the abstract; the number represented by 1. The term is used in distinction from concrete, or determinate, unit, that is, a unit in which the kind of thing is expressed; a unit of measure or value; as 1 foot, 1 dollar, 1 pound, and the like.

   Complex unit (Theory of Numbers), an imaginary number of the form a + broot -1, when a^ 2 + b^ 2 = 1.

   Duodecimal unit, a unit in the scale of numbers increasing or decreasing by twelves.

   Fractional unit, the unit of a fraction; the reciprocal of the denominator; thus, 1/4 is the unit of the fraction 3/4.

   Integral unit, the unit of integral numbers, or 1.

   Physical unit, a value or magnitude conventionally adopted as a unit or standard in physical measurements. The various physical units are usually based on given units of length, mass, and time, and on the density or other properties of some substance, for example, water. See Dyne, Erg, Farad, Ohm, Poundal, etc.

   Unit deme (Biol.), a unit of the inferior order or orders of individuality.

   Unit jar (Elec.), a small, insulated Leyden jar, placed between the electrical machine and a larger jar or battery, so as to announce, by its repeated discharges, the amount of electricity passed into the larger jar.

   Unit of heat (Physics), a determinate quantity of heat adopted as a unit of measure; a thermal unit (see under Thermal). Water is the substance generally employed, the unit being one gram or one pound, and the temperature interval one degree of the Centigrade or Fahrenheit scale. When referred to the gram, it is called the gram degree. The British unit of heat, or thermal unit, used by engineers in England and in the United States, is the quantity of heat necessary to raise one pound of pure water at and near its temperature of greatest density (39.1[deg] Fahr.) through one degree of the Fahrenheit scale.
   --Rankine.

   Unit of illumination, the light of a sperm candle burning 120 grains per hour. Standard gas, burning at the rate of five cubic feet per hour, must have an illuminating power equal to that of fourteen such candles.

   Unit of measure (as of length, surface, volume, dry measure, liquid measure, money, weight, time, and the like), in general, a determinate quantity or magnitude of the kind designated, taken as a standard of comparison for others of the same kind, in assigning to them numerical values, as 1 foot, 1 yard, 1 mile, 1 square foot, 1 square yard, 1 cubic foot, 1 peck, 1 bushel, 1 gallon, 1 cent, 1 ounce, 1 pound, 1 hour, and the like; more specifically, the fundamental unit adopted in any system of weights, measures, or money, by which its several denominations are regulated, and which is itself defined by comparison with some known magnitude, either natural or empirical, as, in the United States, the dollar for money, the pound avoirdupois for weight, the yard for length, the gallon of 8.3389 pounds avoirdupois of water at 39.8[deg] Fahr. (about 231 cubic inches) for liquid measure, etc.; in Great Britain, the pound sterling, the pound troy, the yard, or 1/108719 part of the length of a second's pendulum at London, the gallon of 277.274 cubic inches, etc.; in the metric system, the meter, the liter, the gram, etc.

   Unit of power. (Mach.) See Horse power.

   Unit of resistance. (Elec.) See Resistance, n., 4, and Ohm.

   Unit of work (Physics), the amount of work done by a unit force acting through a unit distance, or the amount required to lift a unit weight through a unit distance against gravitation. See Erg, Foot Pound, Kilogrammeter.

   Unit stress (Mech. Physics), stress per unit of area; intensity of stress. It is expressed in ounces, pounds, tons, etc., per square inch, square foot, or square yard, etc., or in atmospheres, or inches of mercury or water, or the like.

1560s, "single number regarded as an undivided whole," alteration of unity on the basis of digit. Popularized in John Dee's English translation of Euclid, to express Greek monas (Dee says unity formerly was used in this sense). Meaning "single thing regarded as a member of a group" is attested from 1640s. Extended sense of "a quantity adopted as a standard of measure" is from 1738. Sense of "group of wards in a hospital" is attested from 1893.

a. 1 For each unit. 2 (context mathematics English) Having a size or magnitude of one. n. 1 (context sciences English) A standard measure of a quantity. 2 The number one. 3 (form of Short form international unit English) 4 An organized group comprising people and/or equipment. 5 (context military informal English) A member of a military organization. 6 (context US military English) Any military element whose structure is prescribed by competent authority, such as a table of organization and equipment; specifically, part of an organization'''Joint Publication 1-02 ''U.S. Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms; 12 April 2001 (As Amended Through 14 April 2006).'''''. 7 (context US military English) An organization title of a subdivision of a group in a task force. 8 (context US military English) A standard or basic quantity into which an item of supply is divided, issued(,) or used. In this meaning, also called unit of issue. 9 (context US military English) With regard to Reserve Components of the Armed Forces, denotes a Selected Reserve unit organized, equipped, and trained for mobilization to serve on active duty as a unit or to augment or be augmented by another unit. Headquarters and support functions without wartime missions are not considered units. 10 (context algebra English) An element of a ring having a multiplicative inverse. (Formerly just the identity element 1_''R'' of a ring.) 11 (context geology English) A volume of rock or ice of identifiable origin and age range that is defined by the distinctive and dominant, easily mapped and recognizable petrographic, lithologic or paleontologic features (facies) that characterize it. 12 (context commerce English) An item which may be sold singly. 13 (context UK electricity English) One kilowatt-hour (as recorded on an electricity meter). 14 (context Australia New Zealand English) a measure of housing equivalent to the living quarters of one household, an apartment where a group of apartments is contained in one or more multi-storied buildings or a group of dwellings is in one or more single storey buildings, usually arranged around a driveway. 15 (context historical English) A gold coin of the reign of James I, worth twenty shillings.

1. n. any division of quantity accepted as a standard of measurement or exchange; "the dollar is the United States unit of currency"; "a unit of wheat is a bushel"; "change per unit volume" [syn: unit of measurement]

2. an individual or group or structure or other entity regarded as a structural or functional constituent of a whole; "the reduced the number of units and installations"; "the word is a basic linguistic unit"

3. an organization regarded as part of a larger social group; "the coach said the offensive unit did a good job"; "after the battle the soldier had trouble rejoining his unit" [syn: social unit]

4. a single undivided whole; "an idea is not a unit that can be moved from one brain to another"

5. a single undivided natural thing occurring in the composition of something else; "units of nucleic acids" [syn: building block]

6. an assemblage of parts that is regarded as a single entity; "how big is that part compared to the whole?"; "the team is a unit" [syn: whole, whole thing]

Unit is an electronic musician based in New York City. Unit began releasing electronic music officially at the age of 25, although he had musical involvement for many years prior, playing bass guitar at 17, and began working on electronic music at the age of 18. Unit has toured at various venues in Europe 1.

Big Finish Productions have released audio plays about UNIT, using characters and actors from Doctor Who.

UNIT, or Unified Intelligence Taskforce (formerly United Nations Intelligence Taskforce) is a fictional military organisation from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, Torchwood, and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Operating under the auspices of the United Nations, its purpose is to investigate and combat paranormal and extraterrestrial threats to the Earth. In the original Doctor Who series, several UNIT personnel (such as the Brigadier) played a major role in the programme.

Following the broadcast of the 2005 Doctor Who series, executive producer Russell T Davies claimed that the UN were no longer happy to be associated with the fictional organisation, and the UN's full name could now no longer be used. However, the "UNIT" and "UN" abbreviations could be used, as long as it was not explained what the letters stood for. In 2008, he announced that the organisation's name had been changed to the "Unified Intelligence Taskforce". This new name was first mentioned on-screen in " The Sontaran Stratagem", also in 2008, in which it was indicated in a line of dialogue that the United Nations still supports UNIT with funding.

In mathematics, an invertible element or a unit in a ( unital) ring is any element that has an inverse element in the multiplicative monoid of , i.e. an element such that

, where is the multiplicative identity.

The set of units of any ring is closed under multiplication (the product of two units is again a unit), and forms a group for this operation. It never contains the element 0 (except in the case of the zero ring), and is therefore not closed under addition; its complement however might be a group under addition, which happens if and only if the ring is a local ring.

The term unit is also used to refer to the identity element of the ring, in expressions like ring with a unit or unit ring, and also e.g. 'unit' matrix. For this reason, some authors call "unity" or "identity", and say that is a "ring with unity" or a "ring with identity" rather than a "ring with a unit".

The multiplicative identity and its opposite are always units. Hence, pairs of additive inverse elements and are always associated.

Unit is the second full-length album by Australian band Regurgitator, released in November 1997. Its style is a mixture of 1980s style synthesised popular music and alternative rock, with some hip-hop influences. It was widely successful, receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews and five of the songs featured broke into the commercial mainstream, mostly due to their popularity with alternative radio stations ( Triple J especially). On 19 October 1998, the album was re-released as Unit Re-Booted, which included the album's five video clips. In 1998, Unit won 5 ARIA awards, and in 1999, it went triple platinum, eventually selling over 240,000 copies.

The album was re-issued on vinyl by Valve in October 2013.

A unit is a measure of housing equivalent to the living quarters of one household.

In common speech in Australia and New Zealand, the word "unit", when referring to housing, usually means an apartment, where a group of apartments is contained in one or more multi-storied buildings (an 'apartment block'), or a villa unit or home unit, where a group of dwellings is in one or more single storey buildings, usually arranged around a driveway. Then, a unit is a self-contained suite of rooms, usually of modest scale, which may be attached, semi-detached or detached, within a group of similar dwellings. Used in the Australian and New Zealand urban planning and development industry, it is also a synonym for dwelling.

A single room unit is more commonly referred to as a studio flat or bedsitter, otherwise known as a Single Room Occupancy or SRO in North America. It can be hard to discern precisely what attributes distinguish some multi-dwelling developments as units from those referred to as flats or apartments, but everyday usage suggests there is a class dimension to the term.

In Canada, the national statistical agency, Statistics Canada, counts the number of private dwellings in the country at each census, in which case they are then known as "dwelling units" and can refer equally to a house or an apartment. In everyday Canadian English "unit" is used an umbrella term for apartments and condominiums.