It may still be encountered in documents dealing with agricultural production (especially with reference to cereals), and has been revived in determining weights when casting bells in belfries following the rebirth of the Orthodox Churches in the former Soviet lands. Apothecaries' system The Imperial Russian apothecaries' weight was defined by setting the grain () to be exactly seven-fifths of a dolya. The only unit name shared between the two was the funt (pound), but the one in the apothecaries' system is exactly seven-eighths of the ordinary funt. Idiomatic expressions The obsolete units of measurement survived in Russian culture in a number of idiomatic expressions and proverbs, for example: : (It) can be heard a verst away – about something very loud : 7 versts is not a detour for a mad dog – about excessive energy or hassle : 7 verst is not too far for a darling friend : Kolomna verst – about a very tall and slim person (in this case the reference is to the verst pole road mark: ) : A slanted sazhen in the shoulders – about a strong, wide-shouldered person : To gauge everybody by the same [literally: one's own] yardstick : To swallow an arshin (yardstick) – about standing very straight and still : Two vershok above the pot – a very young child : a hundred poods – a very large amount. In modern colloquial Russian it is used in a generic meanings of "very much" and "very", as well as "most surely". The adjective and the adverb derive from this expression, although it is more likely a mangled contraction of "100%" (stoprocentny). : Seven pyad across the forehead – very smart : Not seven pyad across the forehead – not so smart : A zolotnik is small, but expensive: when quality rather than quantity is important : To walk in 7-mile steps – any kind of very fast progress, e.g., of improvement : To learn how much a pound of likho costs – to experience something bad : Do not give up (even) a pyad of land : To eat a 'pood' of salt (with somebody) – to have a long common experience with somebody (with the implication "to know someone well") See also Petrograd Standard References External links Russian system of measures of length (brief description) by V. A. Belobrov The role of Peter the Great in the development of