n.
Pronunciation: ' swet
Function: verb
Inflected Form: sweat or sweat · ed ; sweat · ing
Etymology: Middle English sweten, from Old English sw ǣ tan, from sw ā t sweat; akin to Old High German sweiz sweat, Latin sudare to sweat, Greek hidr ō s sweat
Date: before 12th century
intransitive verb
1 a : to excrete moisture in visible quantities through the openings of the sweat glands : PERSPIRE b : to labor or exert oneself so as to cause perspiration
2 a : to emit or exude moisture <cheese sweat s in ripening> b : to gather surface moisture in beads as a result of condensation <stones sweat at night> c (1) : FERMENT (2) : PUTREFY
3 : to undergo anxiety or mental or emotional distress < sweat through final exams>
4 : to become exuded through pores or a porous surface : OOZE
transitive verb
1 : to emit or seem to emit from pores : EXUDE
2 : to manipulate or produce by hard work or drudgery
3 : to get rid of or lose (weight) by or as if by sweating or being sweated
4 : to make wet with perspiration
5 a : to cause to excrete moisture from the skin b : to drive hard : OVERWORK c : to exact work from at low wages and under unfair or unhealthful conditions d slang : to give the third degree to
6 : to cause to exude or lose moisture especially : to subject (as tobacco leaves) to fermentation
7 a : to extract something valuable from by unfair or dishonest means : FLEECE b : to remove particles of metal from (a coin) by abrasion
8 a : to heat (as solder) so as to melt and cause to run especially between surfaces to unite them also : to unite by such means < sweat a pipe joint> b : to heat so as to extract an easily fusible constituent < sweat bismuth ore> c : to sauté in a covered vessel until natural juices are exuded
9 slang : to worry about <doesn't sweat the small stuff ― Barry McDermott>
– sweat blood : to work or worry intensely <in preparing speeches each sweats blood in his own way ― Stewart Cockburn>