▪ I.ˈaverage,n.¹ Old Law.Forms: 5– average; Sc.6 avarage, arage, arrage, aryage, 6–9 arriage.[InOF.average (Godef.) andmed.(Anglo-) L. averagium, apparently the same as avera in Domesday Book, explained by Spelman as ‘one day's work which the king's tenants gave to the sheriff.’ In the vernacular form, only in Scotch, where also phonetically worn down to arage (cf.laverok, lark, favorand, farrand), and spelt arriage in association with carriage. Origin uncertain.Early explanations evidently treated avera as latinized form ofOF.ovre, œvre work. Sir J. Skene referred it to aver ‘beast of burden,’ and so explained the meaning; but his proposed explanation (since repeated in the Law Dicts.) is hardly supported by the early use of averagium andOF.average. Danish hoveri ‘average, soccage-duty,’ suggested by Wedgwood, is (with its Romance suffix) a more recent word than averagium, and not possibly its source. Mr. C. I. Elton, from the actual use of avera, is disposed to revert to the idea of referring it toOF.ovre, œvre, its form being perhaps affected by the use of avere, aver, for property and cattle. He compares averagium with F. ouvrage, andmed.L. operagium.]Some kind of service due by tenants to the feudal superior. Explained in the Law Dictionaries, since Sir J. Skene, as ‘service done by the tenant with his beasts of burden’(seeabove). Known chiefly in the phrase ‘arriage and carriage,’ retained in Scotch leases till 20Geo.II, but having in later times no definitely ascertained meaning.[1085DomesdayBk.I 9 b (Kent)In Berham hundredo..de auera, id est servitium, lx solidi.Ibid.I 132 b (Herfordsh.)In seruitio regis inuenit unam aueram et inwardum, sed iniuste et per vim.c1200Jocelin de BrakelondChron.in T. Arnold MemorialsSt.Edmund's Abbey (RollsSer.1890) I. 303Solebant autem homines villæ, jubente celerario, ire apud Laginghehe[Lakenheath]et reportare avragium de anguillis de Sutreia[Southrey], et sæpe vacui redire et ita vexari sine aliquo emolumento celerarii.1206Fine Rolls of 8 John (Elton Tenures of Kent 366)Ita ut xenia et aueragia et alia opera quæ fiebant de terris iisdem conuertentur in redditum denariorum ægros alentem.c1300Custumal Manor of Wye in S.R. Scargill-Bird Custumals Battle Abbey (CamdenSoc.1887) 123Præter prædicta averagia sunt in æstate de liberis jugis xxxiij averagia, scilicet inter Hokeday et Gulam Augusti.1371Indenturebetw.Earl Menteith & C'tess. Fife (Jam.)Cum auaragiis et caragiis.]1489ActsJas.IV (3 Feb.) vii,All landes, rentes, custumez, burrow malez, fermes, martes, mutoun, poultre, average, cariage, and vtheres dewiteis.1534MS.in Regr.Off.(Jam.)That he should pay a rent of 20l. usual mony of the realm; 4 dozen poultrie, with all aryage and carriage, and do service use and wont.1549Compl.Scot.xv. 125,I am maid ane slaue of my body to ryn and rashe in arrage and carraige.1597SkeneDe Verb. Sign. (Jam.),Arage..vtherwaies Average, signifies service quhilk the tennent aucht to his master, be horse, or carriage of horse.1641Termes de la Ley 33 b.1754ErskinePrinc.Sc.Law (1809) 191Clauses were formerly thrown into most tacks, obliging tenants to services indefinitely, under the name of arriage and carriage, or services use and wont.1818ScottHrt. Midl. viii,Regular payment of mail-duties, kain, arriage, carriage, etc.1835Tomlins' LawDict.,Arriage and carriage, indefinite services prohibited by 20Geo.II. c. 50 §21, 22.▪ II.average,n.²|ˈævərɪdʒ|Forms: (5 auerays) 7 auer- avaridge, 7 averige, 8 avirage, 5– average.[Appears first c 1500: the corresponding term in F. is avarie,Cotgr.1611 avaris (? plural), Catalan averia,Sp.averia (also found as haberia),Pg.andIt.avaria; also inDu.avarij, haverij,Ger.hafarei, havarie,Da.havari, all from the Romance langs. The earliest instances occur in connexion with the maritime trade of the Mediterranean; but the derivation is uncertain(seebelow). TheEng.auerays (plural) in Arnold'sChron.(if not a misprint) was probably meant for the F. word; the form average (also in Arnold'sChron.) is confined to English, and evidently formed on the model of lodemanage (pilotage), primage, etc.: see -age.]I.Maritime use.†1.orig.A duty, tax, or impost charged upon goods; a customs-duty, or the like. Obs.(The original use of avaria, averia, avarie in the maritime codes, ordinances, and records of the Mediterranean.)[a1200Assises of Jerusalem xlii (Pardessus I. 277),Et sachies que selui[aver]qui est gete ne doit estre conté fors tant com il cousta o toutes ses avaries (transl.) Know that that property which is thrown overboard shall be reckoned only at what it cost with all its charges: in Venetian version dazii e spese,i.e.duties and expenses).c1250Consulado del Mar lix. (1791)Lo nólit è les avaries (i.e.the freight and charges).1777RobertsonHist.Amer.(1783) III. 425The Averia, or tax paid on account of convoys to guard the ships sailing to and from America.]1502ArnoldChron.180And ouer that alle maner of grauntis..of youre custumes or subsidyes or auerage..be voyd and in none effecte.1667E. ChamberlayneSt.Gt.Brit.i. iii. i. (1743) 146The goods of Clergymen are discharged..from Tolls and Customs of Average, Pontage, Murage, Pavage.1760BurnEccl.Law (1797) III. 204Ecclesiastical persons ought to be quit and discharged of tolls, customs, avirage, pontage, paviage, and the like.2.Any charge or expense over and above the freight incurred in the shipment of goods, and payable by their owner. (In this sense it still occurs in petty average, and the now inoperative phrase, average accustomed in Bills of Lading: see quotations 1540 and 1865.)1491in ArnoldChron.112And ouer that to pai or doo pay all maner auerays as wel for Burdeux as for Thamys.1540Act 32Hen.VIII, xiv,Fraight in any shipp..for euery tonne homewardes xiijs. iiijd., and for primage and lode⁓manage of euery tonne vid. stirling, with all auerages accustumed after thold use and custume of English Shippes.1670BlountLawDict.,Average, is also a little Duty, which those Merchants, who send Goods in another Mans Ship, do pay to the Master of it, for his care over and above the Freight; for in Bills of Lading it is expressed—Paying so much Freight for the said Goods, with Primage and Average accustomed.1682J. ScarlettExchanges 253Then he..may receive the goods, paying the Shipper his Freight and Avaridge; but if there be extraordinary Avaridge, or if the goods be damaged, then the sum of the damage, and of the extraordinary Avaridge, must be deducted from the sums that D, E and G are to receive, they being as Bodomerers or Assurers.1865J. LeesLawsBrit.Ship. (ed.9) 203The term ‘average’[in bills of lading]applies to certain small charges, called petty or accustomed averages, of which, generally, one-third falls to the ship, and two-thirds to the cargo. Both these indefinite terms..are often adjusted at a precise sum for the voyage.3.spec.The expense or loss to owners, arising from damage at sea to the ship or cargo.[1556–84inGuidon de la Mer Pardessus V. 387. 1611Cotgr.,Avaris, decay of wares, or merchandise; leckage of wines; also, the charges of the cariage, or measuring thereof.]1622MabbeAleman's Guzman D' Alf. ii. 127To defray the charges of averige; for it will not be alwaies faire weather.[1664Spelman,Averagium..à Gall. avaris..est detrimentum, quod vehendis mercibus accidit; ut fluxio vini, frumenti corruptio, mercium in tempestatibus ejectio. Quibus addunt vecturæ sumptus, et necessariæ aliæ impensæ.]1755N. MagensInsur. I. 347Suppose that of this Silver, during the Voyage ¹/₄ had been diminished..that is an Average or Loss, whatever it is called, of 25 perCent.Ibid.II. 74An Action for the Damage or Decay of any Ships or Goods, that are insured, generally called Average, must be brought within a Year and a half at furthest, if such Average happened within the limits of Europe or Barbary.1848ArnouldMar. Insur. (1866) I. i. v. 234The word ‘Average,’ as employed in this clause, means ‘partial loss by sea damage.’4. a.The incidence of any such charge, expense, or loss; esp.the equitable distribution of expense or loss, when of general incidence, among all the parties interested, in proportion to their several interests.particular average is the incidence of the partial loss or damage of ship, cargo, or freight, through unavoidable accident, upon the individual owners (or insurers) of these respective interests.general average is apportionment of loss caused by intentional damage to ship (e.g. cutting away of masts or boats), or sacrifice of cargo and consequent loss of freight, or of expense incurred by putting into a port in distress, by acceptance of towage or other services, to secure the general safety of ship and cargo; in which case contribution is made by the owners (or insurers) of ship, cargo, and freight in proportion to the value of their respective interests.(In connexion with Maritime Law and Marine Insurance this has come to be the prevailing sense of the word. Its first known occurrence is in the 14th c. Civil Statute of Cataro (Pardessus V. 97), where it is enacted that anything given as a present or ‘Christmas-box’ (pro strena), or paid in tribute (pedocia), with the consent of the majority, for the good of the vessel, shall be shared by way of average (illud dividatur per avariam).Cf.quot.1603, 1727.)1598W. PhillipLinschoten'sTrav.in Arber Eng.Garner III. 413In their ships there is no Average. For when there happeneth any loss, or that any goods are thrown overboard, he standeth to the loss that oweth the goods without any more accounts, etc.1603Act 1Jas.I, xxxii,The Master, Owner, and Shipper, payinge the same[rate for repair of Dover Harbour], shall have allowance of the Marchants, according to the rate of the Goods in the same Shippe, Vessell, or Crayer, by way of Average.1607CowellInt.,Average..is also used for a certaine contribution that merchants and others doe every man proportionably make toward their losses, who have their goods cast into the sea for the safe⁓gard of the shippe, or of the goods and lives of them in the shippe in time of a tempest.1622MalynesAnc.Law-Merch. 136In such a case, when goods by stormes are cast ouer-boord, it shal not be made good by contribution or aueridge, but by the Masters owne purse: For if hee over⁓burthen the Ship above the true marke of lading, hee is to pay a fine.1697Lond.Gaz.No.3339/4All Persons the Freighters of the Ship call'd theSt.Jago Briganteen..which was cast away..upon the Coast of Portugal, are desired to go to the Jamaica Coffee-House..to sign an Instrument of a general Average, in order to receive their Dividend of the Goods saved.1715Ibid.No.4872/3The whole must come into a general Average, that every one concerned in the Loss may receive a due Proportion of what is saved.1727ChambersCycl.s.v.Average or Averidge,Such sum shall be divided among the several claimers by way of average, in proportion to their respective interests and demands.1881ShippingGaz.29 Mar. 7/1Defendants said that as by what had happened they had lost their freight, they were entitled to claim a contribution, by way of General Average, on account of the loss of freight.b.attrib.and Comb., as average-adjuster, -stater, one whose profession it is to adjust the claims and liabilities of all parties concerned in a case of General Average, and to make up an average-statement showing the same; average bond, a guarantee given to the master of the ship by the consignees of a cargo liable to General Average, by which they undertake that if he delivers the cargo, they will pay the general average contribution as soon as its amount is authoritatively determined.1865J. LeesLawsBrit.Ship. (ed.9) 354Or the documents and vouchers are placed in the hands of a professional average-adjuster to prepare an average statement.Ibid.347A general average loss is that which has been sustained by some part of the ship or cargo for the safety and preservation of the whole.1883Standard 19 May 2/8Mr. ― ..who was described as an ‘average adjustor.’II.Transferred use.5.transf.The distribution of the aggregate inequalities (in quantity, quality, intensity, etc.) of a series of things among all the members of the series, so as to equalize them, and ascertain their common or mean quantity, etc., when so treated; the determination or statement of an arithmetical mean; a medial estimate. Now only in phrases at an average, on an average.1735BerkeleyQuerist (R.)Whether..Birmingham alone doth not upon an average circulate every week..the value of 50,000l.1758Dyche & Pardon,Average, the taking of several things together, and considering the profit of the one and the loss of the other, so as to make a mean or common price.1787G. WhiteSelborne i. 3Our wells, at an average, run to about sixty-three feet.1843CarlylePast &Pr.(1858) 121Under such conditions and averages as it can.1878HuxleyPhysiogr.188Earthquake-shocks occur, on an average, about three times a week.6. a.The arithmetical mean so obtained; the medium amount, the generally prevailing, or ruling, quantity, rate, or degree; the ‘common run.’[Not in Chambers Supp. 1753. 1755 Johnson,Average, 4. A medium, a mean proportion. (Noquot.)]1802PaleyNat.Theol.xxvi. (R.)Looking to the average of sensations..the preponderancy is in favour of happiness.1860MauryPhys.Geog.Sea iii. § 185The month's average of wrecks has been as high as three a day.1860Abp.Thomson LawsTh.§125Where a mean is taken, without any need for arranging the several observations according to their approach to it, it has been called an average.1867M. E. HerbertCradle L. iii. 92The hotel itself is..very much above the average.1874ReynoldsJohn Bapt. i. §2. 15To predict the future, not only in its averages or in the law of its evolution, but in its detail.b.spec.in Cricket. The mean number of runs per innings scored by a batsman, or the mean cost in runs per wicket achieved by a bowler, during a season, tour, etc.1845W. DenisonCricketer's Companion (ed.2) 113Many of our finest bats have had their average diminished.Ibid.(heading)Averages for 1844.1854F. LillywhiteGuide to Cricketers 74Mr. H. Lampson..Bowling average, per innings, 2 and 13 over.1870Baily's MonthlyMag.Oct. 85In 1868 his batting average was 52 and 5 over.1967Whitaker's Almanack 982 (heading)Batting and bowling averages.Hence averaˈgarian (nonce-wd.).1864Cornh.Mag.Aug. 219The averagarians usually give the statistics of murders, suicides, and marriages, as proof of the periodic uniformity of events.[Few words have received more etymological investigation: see Diez, Dozy, Littré, Wedgwood, E. Müller, Skeat, etc., and especially the fruitful researches of the late G. P. Marsh in the American edition of Wedgwood (New York 1861). The latter has conclusively shown that, as a maritime term, avaria, averia, was first used in the Mediterranean, and that its original meaning was duty charged upon goods. In connexion with thiscf.also quotations from Muratori Chron.Parmense (in Du Canges.v.Averia),e.g.Conscenderint lembum Averiæ ad excipiendos prædictos galeones, ‘they went on board the revenue cutter to intercept the aforesaid galleons.’ These results quite dispose of the two derivations suggested in Diez fromGer.hafen haven, andArab.‭ﻋawâr loss, damage, the latter being merely amod.Arabic translation and adaptation of the western term in its latest sense. Mr. Marsh's connexion of the word with the Arabic or Turkish avania, avaria, is of great weight; but as said under avania, that word is more probably adopted from the Franks. May not averia be a derivative ofIt.avere,OF.aveir, property, goods(seeavern.), in sense of ‘charge on property or goods’? Compare such terms as tonnage, poundage, pollage (charge on polls). The chief difficulty lies in the earlyIt.form avaria, not averia, and F. avarie: the Catalan has however been averia since 13th c.: see Marsh onSp.and Catalan use of the word, and Averia, Avaria in Du Cange. It is to be noted thatOF.avarie was used of other than maritime dues or charges; in a document dated Nicosia, 18 March 1468, in De Mas Latrie, Histoire de Chypre III. 276, the owner of a mill is bound ‘de paier l'ensencive (=cens) de l'abaie de Bibi, et tout autre avarie que le dit moulin paie aujourdhui.’Cf.also certain uses of avérage in Godefroy.]▪ III.†average,n.³ Obs.or dial.Forms: 6 averaige, averish, 7–8 average.[Etymol.uncertain: seequot.1674. No such sense ofmed.L. averagium orOF.average.Cf.arrish.](Seequot.)1537Reg.Leases Dean & Chapt. York I. 74The averaige of the said cloises.c1615MS.Crt.Bk.RiccallYorksh.,No goodes or cattell to depasture in the towne feildes in averish tyme.1669WorlidgeSyst.Agric.(1681) 321Average, the feeding or Pasturage for Cattle especially the Edish or Roughings.1674RayN. Countr. Wds. 3Average, the breaking of corn fields; Eddish, Roughings..It may possibly come from Haver signifying Oates; or from Averia, beasts, being as much as feeding for cattal, pasturage.1788W. MarshallYorkshire (1796) II. 151Average, a provincial term for the eatage of arable land, after harvest.▪ IV.average,a.|ˈævərɪdʒ|[attrib.use of averagen.², in sense 5.]1.Estimated by average; i.e. by equally distributing the aggregate inequalities of a series among all the individuals of which the series is composed.1770Month.Rev.235The average price of corn.1776Adam SmithW.N. I. i. v. 37 note,The average rent of the best arable land.1797Holcrofttr.Stolberg'sTrav.IV. xcv. (ed.2) 327The average summer heat of these countries.1849MacaulayHist.Eng.I. 309The average income of a temporal peer was estimated..at about three thousand a year.1851Coal-trade Terms Northmbld. &Durh.4Average Weight.—The mean weight of a tub of coals at a colliery for any fortnight, upon which the hewers' and putters' wages are calculated..usually obtained by weighing two tubs in each score.2. a.Equal to what would be the result of taking an average; medium, ordinary; of the usual or prevalent standard.1803W. Taylor inAnn.Rev.I. 423The manufacturer has to deal with the average poor, with the spendthrift and the sparethrift.1812Examiner 5 Oct. 629/2Of corn..there is not an average crop.1858GladstoneHomer III. 16These districts by no means represent the average character of Greece.1859MillLiberty 119The honour and glory of the average man is, that he is capable of following that initiative.1868RuskinPol.Econ.Art ii. 89A modern drawing of average merit.b.Used with sensual[tr.F. (l'homme) sensuel moyen.]1882[see sensual A. 4 a].1894G. B. Shaw inFortnightlyRev.Feb. 263The average sensual boy comes out the average sensual man.1937A. HuxleyEnds & Means xiv. 297Only the disinterested mind can transcend common sense and pass beyond the boundaries of animal or average-sensual human life.1950―Themes & Variations 71Samuel Pepys's day-by-day record of how the average sensual man comports himself.1968R. AmberleyIncitement to Murder i. 10If an average sensual man, he was also an average kindly man.3.Comb., average-sizedadj.1851H. MelvilleMoby Dick III. ii. 340An average-sized male.1960Farmer & StockbreederSuppl.29 Mar. 9/1They all fit an average-sized head.▸ average Joen.orig.U.S.the (or an) ordinary man;=Everymann.;cf.Joen.² 5.1940Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 11 Apr. d27/2Frankly, were I an *average Joe Fight Fan rather than an alleged sports scribe who gets into ring shows free, I'd pick the amateurs over the pros next week.1973Publishers Weekly 26 Mar. 65/2The average Joe probably thinks that cyclists..are eccentric folk.2004Western Mail (Cardiff) (Nexis) 15 May 14Spare a thought for the rest of us ‘average Joes’ who are confronted daily with gleaming images of the Beckhams and Pitts of this world and can't help coming away feeling distinctly second best.▪ V.average,v.|ˈævərɪdʒ|[f.averagen.² in sense 5;=‘calculate or estimate by average’;cf.to proportion, square, cube, double, etc.]1.trans.To estimate, by dividing the aggregate of a series by the number of its units, (at so much); to take the average of; to form an opinion as to the prevailing standard of.1831Southey inQ.Rev.XLIV. 382His Sunday congregation was averaged at about six hundred persons.1851H. SpencerSoc.Stat.xxxii. §6By averaging the characters of those whom he personally knows, he can form a tolerably correct opinion of those whom he does not know.1852Sir W. HamiltonDisc.444Averaging the Battel dues paid by each at thirty shillings, there results, etc.1881M. TwainPr.& Paup. xxii. 257The blacksmith averaged the stalwart soldier with a glance, then went muttering away.2.ellipt.for: To average itself at, or be averaged at; to amount to, or be, on an average.1769WashingtonDiaries (1925) I. 314A fat wether—it being imagind..would average the above weight.1806FessendenOrig.Poems 113Each paper..Will average at a hundred lies.1821ByronJuan iii. xv,They all had cuffs and collars And averaged each from ten to a hundred dollars.1822W. SpencePol.Econ.Pref.33Fixing the annual sum to be paid by each parish at what it has averaged for the past five or ten years.1832H. MartineauElla of Gar. i. 2These visits averaged about one in the life-time of each laird.1856FroudeHist.Eng.(1858) I. i. 21Wheat..averaged in the middle of the fourteenth century tenpence the bushel.1859MassonMilton I. 452The sale of the book..averaged a thousand copies a year.3.ellipt.for: To do, gain, take (or almost any verb of which the meaning may be inferred from the context) on an average; to accomplish (in any kind of action) an average amount of (so much).1822De QuinceyConf.(1862) 200So much this surgeon averaged upon each day for about twenty years.1881Daily News 10 Dec. 3/1The hard-worked officers..have been averaging eighteen hours' work per diem.4.intr.with out: To work out so as to produce an average. Also trans.in corresponding sense.1914G. B. ShawMisalliance 41Averages out the human race. Makes the nigger half an Englishman. Makes the Englishman half a nigger.1922TimesLit.Suppl.28 Sept. 610/4The particular obstacles will vary from time to time and from species to species, but on the whole will average out.1928Britain'sIndustr.Future (LiberalInd.Inquiry) v. xxxi. §5. 446Any attempt to average out burdens.1934G. B. ShawToo True to be Good iii. p. 97In the army these things average themselves out.